Dancing in the Stars
by MYZ-chan
Summary: -DavidLenalee- They meet in a ballroom two years later with no recognition in their eyes and the scent of royalty all around them.
1. And so they dance

This started out being a modern day fiction. Then it gradually changed to this. Lord, I am hopeless. Anyways, this is multi-chapter and will be updated on a horribly irregular basis. Expect chapter two sometime by next week or next month. By the way, this is semi-AU and takes place in the future (in case you haven't figured that out already), so the couple's ages are as such:

David: 19

Lenalee: 18

And neither of them really recognize each other in the masks (part of my horrible scheme), so this is why only on the battlefield do they know each other, since Lenalee's never seen David's human form before (actually, we haven't either, but ignore that). Their characters are also different because they're older, and definitely going to change. And I apologize for the horrible fighting scene. I'm not too good at writing those kinds of things, so bear with me. The issue of Jasdero will be explained later on in the story and how David is still alive and breathing without him.

_No flaming about the pairing(s) here_. I say this all the time, but I can't emphasize it more if I wanted too. _If you don't like it, don't read it_. Enough said.

Enjoy!

* * *

"It's kind of awkward in here," Lenalee whispered, clutching Lavi's arm desperately, teetering in her slim high heels and almost tripping over her flowing blue ball gown. Reaching up with her spare arm, she adjusted the shimmering black mask adorning her eyes. "Are you sure this is the Noah's residency?"

"Positive," he mumbled back, grinning at her. His own navy blue mask shone in the light of the street lamps around them. "Don't worry Lenalee. Just find a Noah here and try to wheedle some information out of him, that's all. I'm sure you'll be great."

She smiled slightly, not sure how to take that last comment. "Thanks Lavi. You too." Letting go of his arm, she walked forward hesitantly before starting smoothly into a careful walk up to pavement leading to the giant archway into the mansion.

When she entered the mansion, she almost fell back. Everything was bright, sparkling even. The large crystal chandelier hung directly in the center of the ceiling, unmoving like a sculpture. Colorful dresses and suits suiting women and men alike swirled across the room, their masks shimmering in the light.

_It was breathtaking._

"It's amazing in here," Lavi exclaimed, ignoring the stares as he strode up behind Lenalee.

"I know."

They spread out. Lenalee headed towards the tables lined with bowls of food and drink while Lavi sped over to a group of young ladies, charming smile switched to on. She daintily picked up a roll and popped it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. Wow. Even their food was great.

She looked around, carefully analyzing her situation. It had been two years since the Lulu Bell incident, and none of them had heard or seen the Noah ever since. Now it was different. A finder had gathered that, supposedly, quite a few Noah would be attending this party, hidden behind masks of their own and guised as normal humans. She was supposed to grab some information from them inconspicuously, and then slip out as fast as she could. Lavi would do the same.

Lenalee frowned slightly. There was one tiny problem. If so many Noah were to attend, then why didn't she see any? They were usually easier to spot out than normal humans, being that their level of attractiveness seemed to be much higher than an average human.

"Hey," a voice breathed into her ear.

She almost jumped out of her high-heels. Her head turned slightly.

A boy perhaps a year older stood in front of her, his mop of black hair going down to the nape of his neck. His pale skin contrasted with the black tux he was currently dressed in, and his mouth was twisted into a tiny smile. The mask he was wearing was white, beautiful in the chandelier's lighting. Her eyes flickered to the white bandages tightly wrapped around his left arm. For some reason, he looked and sounded distinctly familiar. She just couldn't place it.

"You having fun?" he snickered.

She scowled. "I was. Until you interrupted my thoughts."

"You were thinking? I just thought you were stuffing your face."

Lenalee almost blanched. Luckily, she didn't. It would be much too unladylike if she did. "I am not stuffing my face," she said once she had grasped her self-control. "I am just waiting for someone to ask me to dance. After all, it is the gentleman's courtesy to ask. Not that you would know. You're too much of a child to even realize that." Then, turning her nose up, she swiveled away from him and faced the crowd, resolutely staring at the dancing figures.

She didn't know why he still stood right behind her, even five minutes later. She was dying to ask why. However, she was not going to give in and talk to him, that—that—

That rude, insufferable, _boy_!

Finally, to her great surprise, he sighed grumpily and muttered, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry, okay? Don't act so—"

"So what?" Her voice was low and threatening. The boy's face twisted into an indignant expression.

"Like that! All twisted up and stuff."

"Twisted up? _Twisted up_?" Her voice rose to a high pitched shriek, and about ten people turned to look at them questioningly, including Lavi, who gave her a warning look before going back to talk to a pretty young woman behind a crimson mask.

"I said I was sorry!" He shuffled his feet a bit, his cheeks flushed with frustration and a bit of embarrassment. "Look, do you—"

"Do I what?"

He took another breath and smirked at her, flush gone from his face. "Do you want to dance?"

She was taken aback and just stared at him, sure that she had heard him wrong. "I'm sorry. What?"

"Are you deaf or something? Do you want to dance?"

"So let me get this straight. First you come over here, telling me that I look like I'm stuffing my face. Then, you tell me I'm 'twisted up'—"

"I apologized first!"

"It doesn't matter! If you want to ask a girl to dance, you have to be nice about it." She turned away sharply and began to stride away from him, ignoring the fact that she was still off-balance on her high heels. Unfortunately, this fact caused her ankle to flip over onto the side and she began to plummet towards the tile floor.

A hand slipped to her side and held her up while the boy smirked at her. "Now will you dance with me?" He looked so smug and charming at the same time that it was hard to believe he was the same boy as before.

She only gaped at him before she sighed and obliged, allowing him to push her back on her feet and lead her into the dance floor. Now that she owed him, she might as well do the thing he was asking for in the first place. It was only common courtesy.

Two minutes later, they were swaying to the music, with Lenalee trying her best to dance in high heels and the boy trying his best not to expose his two left feet. It wasn't working for either of them, and soon they were both snickering with amusement. _This boy_, Lenalee thought, _isn't actually so bad._

"So you're a member of the Camelot family?" she asked.

"Yeah. My family's insane though." She laughed. "I'm serious! They're always making a big deal about a whole ton of things, and my dad's always doting on my little sister. My uncle's almost never around, and my other relatives are just as crazy." He gave her a small grin. "Political families aren't always as stable as they appear, you know."

"That's nothing compared to my older brother. He's always inventing robots and obsessing over me. He's very lazy, and almost gets no work done even when it's due the next morning."

"What's his job?"

"He's a scientist."

The boy made a face. "Sounds boring."

"Oh, it is."

He laughed this time, and they continued swaying to the music in silence.

"So, I haven't heard your name yet," Lenalee said casually.

"And?"

"Gentleman's courtesy, remember?"

"Right." He leaned a close to her ear, breath ghosting over the tip of her ear. She shivered slightly. "The name's David. And you?"

That name was familiar as well. However, she shook off the feeling. Lots of people had the name David, right? She smiled, leaning forward as well till her lips brushed his ear. "Lenalee."

David drew back a little to look at her, looking puzzled. "Really? That name sounds familiar." He studied the visible part of her face. "Have I met you before?"

"I don't know. I can't place you either."

For a while they stared at each other, unsure of what to make of the other.

The music stopped and so did they, still staring at each other in the center of the room.

"Sir Camelot!"

The two of them started, David turning towards the source of the voice. A tall man with a professional grace about him was headed towards them, his eyes covered in a auburn mask. His long dark hair fell around him in waves, and his hands were gloved, unlike David's. Otherwise, he was in the exact same attire as David.

Lenalee was suddenly overwhelmed by the sense of déjà vu. She knew that man sounded almost as familiar as David, but why? Why was he so familiar?

"Yes?" David looked irked. "What is it?"

"Your father requests you in the hall immediately. You must go." The man turned his face towards Lenalee, to which she stared back unflinchingly. "Am I interrupting something?" An amused smile played on the man's lips.

"Yes, you are," David growled, and muttered something that Lenalee didn't catch before letting go of her. "I'm sorry Lenalee, I have to go."

She smiled, hiding her disappointment inside her chest. "It's fine."

Glancing behind him one last time at her, he walked over to where the man was waiting for him, and he headed into a doorway into which he disappeared. All the while she continued to stare at his back, still smiling.

"Lenalee!" She almost jumped out of her heels again, and swiveled around. Thank goodness it was just Lavi—otherwise, she would have been horribly mortified.

"What is it Lavi?"

"We have to get moving. There are two Akuma outside waiting for us—Level Threes."

Her heart stopped. Then, she set her face into a determined look. "Right. I'll go change."

Lavi nodded, and they each headed towards the washrooms.

---

David sighed as he slumped into one of the chairs seated around his supposed 'father'. "What the hell is this about?" he grumbled, peeling off his mask, revealing deep navy-blue eyes that swiftly changed to gold as he changed into his Noah form, black crosses splitting across his forehead. "I was in the middle of something."

"Like flirting with girls?" Tyki snorted, pulling off his own mask after taking a seat beside David. "Though I swear, I've never seen you even touch a girl before. It's rather frightening. I always thought that you swung the other way because of that."

"Shut up Tyki!" David snapped, throwing a nasty look his way. "At least I'm not almost thirty and dry like a well!"

Tyki's eye twitched as he glared at David with irritation. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by his elder brother.

"Really? David was with a girl?" Cyril looked positively elated at the prospect. "My dear boy, this is fantastic! A revelation not yet seen by mankind! You're growing up!" He sniffled slightly. Was that a tear in his eye? David hoped not. "If only Skin and Jasdero had lived to see this day."

"Cyril…" Road said warningly as David visibly stiffened in his chair at the mention of Jasdero.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to strike a nerve." He settled back into his chair. "On to the main subject. I have received word from the Duke."

Immediately everyone became alert and swiveled their eyes towards Cyril. "What did he say?" Lulu Bell asked, voice anxious. "How is he?"

"He says he's doing fine," Cyril said reassuringly, "And that he has a mission for us."

"A mission?" David scowled, pulling his legs up onto the table despite Road frowning at him disapprovingly. "What kind of mission?"

Cyril folded his hands under his chin, which everyone recognized as the sign that showed he was about to say something big or detrimental to their futures. They all gulped in slight panic. "The kind of mission which involves the exorcists."

David groaned. "Not those bastards again. We've been rid of them for two years, can't we just get on with life?"

"The Duke has requested this mission specifically. We are to seek out the exorcists and destroy them, especially the ones who have become most lethal." Cyril then pulled out a list from his pocket. "These are the ones he especially wants us to kill." He began to read. "Allen Walker—"

"I want Allen!" Road called out, raising her hand high in the air.

Cyril scowled slightly. David could practically see his 'Papa Antenna' sticking out from his forehead, detecting the hints of affection Road was giving towards that Allen boy. "Yes, well, you may have him, Road. Continuing on." He glanced at the list again and continued reading. "Kanda Yu, Bookman Junior, Chaoji Han, Arystar Krory, Miranda Lotto, and—" He stopped, squinting at the page hard. "I cannot read this name, but I can tell it's female and Asian. Go with that."

"I will take the Bookman Junior," Lulu Bell said softly, her eyes glinting. "And the Japanese boy as well."

"I'll take Miranda too!" Road chirped, her expression ecstatic. "I haven't seen her since her invocation! I want to talk to her again."

"Alright. That leaves Chaoji Han, Arystar Krory, and the Asian girl." He looked up. "Tyki, David, take your pick."

"What about you, Cyril?" Tyki laughed. "Are you just going to slack off and do nothing?"

Cyril looked offended. "I have a country to run. I can't afford to go out on missions. My part is just as important as yours, little brother. Now pick."

"I'll take Chaoji and Arystar," Tyki sighed, leaning back in his chair. "David can have the Asian girl."

David grumbled. "You're taking all the fun away, Tyki."

"Hey, less work for you, am I right? And besides, you don't have a problem with killing girls like I do. It's perfect."

David scowl deepened, and Cyril laughed. "All right then, good. Everything is settled. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to call an end to this banquet." He turned to leave the room, but then stopped. "Oh, that reminds me. Outside, the Duke has stationed two Level Threes. That ought to bring out some of your targets. Good luck!" And then he left.

The remaining Noahs crossed their way to the window. Sure enough, there were two Level Three's outside in the garden, already in the middle of battle with two exorcists—a red head with a giant hammer in his hands and a small Asian girl with a pair of dark black boots wrapped around her.

David and Lulu Bell looked at each other, nodded, and then raced off to join the battle.

---

Lenalee quickly shot towards the Level Three. With a sickening crack of its helmet, the tips of her boots went straight through its head, and it dissolved into nothing.

She sighed, breathing in and out before checking to see if Lavi was all right. Fortunately he was, just finishing off his Akuma.

"All right," she breathed, once he turned towards her. "Let's go ho—"

Suddenly, she felt a dark shadow cast behind her, and she spun around, only to leap away as a boy crashed into the place where she just was. She gasped as his face registered in her mind.

_He's one of those twins that Krory fought back at the Ark!_ There was something missing though. Something important.

Then it hit her. _Where was his twin?_

He grinned and pointed his gun at her head. "Red bomb! Blazing inferno!" He pulled the trigger, and a giant fireball went sailing for her head.

She quickly dodged, then landed neatly on the gate. She could see through the giant glass window that all the guests were leaving the party through the other door. Good, she thought. There will be no casualties that way.

"Why have you come back?" Lavi shouted, pulling up on the gate next to her. "Why are you here, of all places?"

The woman pulled up next to the boy and coolly stated, "That is none of your business." Then, she lunged forward and kicked Lavi straight in the gut, sending him over the gate. Lenalee was about to follow, but was stopped in her path by the boy, who skidded in front of her, golden eyes glinting with malice. "You're mine," he snarled, voice rough and far more adult then the last time she had seen him.

She kicked off and sailed for the sky, the boy watching from below carefully. Then, she sailed downwards and smashed her boots into the gate, missing the boy by bare inches.

Lenalee swiveled to face him and was about to attack again when Lavi managed to grab her arm and race away. "We have to go," he hissed, ignoring the Noah's bemusement.

"Why?" she exclaimed. "Lavi, we don't have to run."

"Yes, we do. If we don't we're screwed. Don't you get it Lenalee? We just battled two Level Threes. We're in no condition to be fighting Noahs." He turned to face her, his complexion pale. Beneath the surface, Lenalee could see that he'd come far from an eighteen-year-old boy with silly thoughts in his head. "We have to go back and recuperate."

She sighed, and fell into step behind him. She was tired, after all. It couldn't hurt. "All right Lavi. Let's go home."

---

Lulu Bell and David stared after the two exorcists, slightly irritated.

"Who the hell do they think they are?" David growled, fingering the trigger. He hadn't had a good fight for years, and his blood was already soaring and screaming to kill the innocence. This was usually a sign for him to continue on.

"Obviously, they think they're exorcists," Lulu Bell said crudely, standing erect and imposingly. "We will let them go this time. However, if they attempt to escape us again after this, we will kill them. Is that an agreement, Jasdevi?"

David almost flinched at the familiar name, though he managed to contain himself. It was only natural that she would call him that—after all, he was still a half of that person that once was. Unconsciously, he touched the holster on his belt as an image of Jasdero flashed before his eyes. His fingers tightened on the trigger, and he grinned sadistically.

"Yeah."


	2. And so they collide

Well, part two came up faster than I expected. Part three probably won't be as quick, though.

About the Noah form but no cross thing--I've seen Tyki manage to do it. I wasn't sure if the other Noah can do it as well or not, but I did it anyways because that way, the story would make a bit more sense.

About David's forms: His Noah form looks and sounds distinctly different than his human form. For one thing, when he's in his Noah form he applies a lot of make-up on his face. There's also the issue of skin and eye color. Also, when he's in his Noah form, his voice (in my imagination) sounds a rougher than his human side. So it's not surprising that Lenalee doesn't recognize him. David doesn't recognize her voice because, well, if you haven't noticed, he's kind of dense. It's not like him to look through disguises.

Enjoy!

* * *

"David!" There was a squeaking sound as his 'little sister' hopped up on his bed and consequentially woke him up from his slumber. "David, wake up. Play with me."

David groaned and pulled the covers over his head. "Leave me alone. Ask Tyki, for crying out loud, he's the more patient one."

Road scowled, her pink (and much too frilly) nightgown draping over the blankets. "No!" And with that, the covers were yanked off of him, and he was left with nothing but his boxers to cover him. "Play with me, David! Don't be lazy!" Road glared at him, the blue eyes in her human form glowing maliciously. "Come on David, get up! Tyki's out on that mission the Duke assigned us, and it's boring here now. Play with me, play with me!" The last part she practically shrieked and bounced up and down on the bed in impatience.

David grumbled. "I'm nineteen. I shouldn't have to play with you." He got up anyways, stretching his arms high over his head. He heard something pop in his left arm and he winced slightly, bright spots of light flashing under his eyelids.

Road's expression changed from selfish to concerned. "Are you okay?" she asked, eyes softening.

"Yeah. It's fine." He swung his legs over the bed and headed for his wardrobe, looking back at Road sitting on his bed, swinging her legs back and forth. "Did you not eat breakfast yet? Is that why you're being so pushy?" He smirked when she pouted at that last statement.

"I'm not being pushy! And no. Cyril isn't up yet because he says he's really tired from last night and won't get up, even when I asked him really, really nicely." She harrumphed and crossed her arms, puffing out her cheeks. "I wanted him to make his really good pancakes too, the ones with chocolate chip in them."

David's movements slowed as his mouth watered. Road was right. Those pancakes were good. No wonder she was so cranky. A something-aged (but definitely really old) Noah in a little girl's body had to have cravings for something. It was only natural (how, he had no idea, but it just was) for her to feel that way.

Road's face then turned into a mischievous one, and David suddenly felt a sense of foreboding settle on his chest. He leaned closer to the wardrobe so as to potentially escape in there, just in case. "So David," she said in a singsong, her legs swinging faster as she got more excited. "I hear you danced with a girl last night." Her smile widened as she leaned forward. "What was she like? Was she pretty? Do you _like_ her?" She emphasized the word 'like' and leaned forward even further till David thought her back was going to snap.

His face reddened as he stepped into the wardrobe to change. It was just like her to ask him that. "How should I know if she was pretty?" he muttered. "They were all wearing masks, remember?" He tugged on a thin undershirt and jeans, as well as a leather jacket that Cyril had somehow found necessary to buy for him after Noah's Ark.

"Yeah. But was she nice? Did you like her?" Road hopped off the bed and strode over to the side of the wardrobe. "David, did you like her?" He remained silent. "David, answer me!"

He sighed. Well, that was an…interesting question. Did he like her? They certainly had gotten along at the end of the ball, but at the beginning they had wanted to rip each other's throats out. So did he like her?

"Yeah, she was nice. And maybe," he answered cryptically.

"You're mean! Tell me the truth or I'll kick open the door!"

"That_ is_ the truth, Road! I don't know if I like her or not. I don't even know if I'll ever see her again. It was probably an once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing, okay? Now go outside or something." He opened the door and hopped out, striding towards the mirror.

Road didn't leave. "David," she said softly. "David, is this about Jasdero?"

David stiffened. "No, it's not! Just because he's practically dead and gone doesn't mean that I'm not being as social as I used to be, okay? And I'm not scared either!" He practically shouted the last part, not turning around to face her.

"I never said that, David." Road watched him as he began to apply the black make-up to his face. "You know, you look a lot better without that stuff—a lot less like a girl. Just don't use it."

"Shut up and go eat your candy."

"Well, if you do want to see that girl again, there's another masked ball next week. You can go and see if she's there then." Road stood up from the floor and finally skipped out of the room, leaving behind a suddenly flushing David to go see if Cyril was up and ready.

---

"Lenalee! Lavi!" Allen Walker hurried towards the two exorcists with a worried look in his eyes. He skidded to a stop in front of them, panting slightly. "What happened? Did the Akuma find you?"

"Yeah," Lavi winced, holding his stomach. "And so did the Noah. Allen, we should inform Komui about this. Noah is moving again." Lenalee held his arm as he sat down on the bench. "Damn, that woman is strong. I still can't move without hurting."

"Obviously," Lenalee chided gently. "I'll go get an icepack, alright? Don't go anywhere, Lavi."

"You don't have to tell me twice," he groaned at her retreating back. "Aw, damn, I was perfectly fine last night without them showing up too, Allen. I even met this really hot girl that was actually nice to me. Why did it have to go wrong?"

Lenalee smiled faintly and moved down the hallway towards the kitchen. Even though more mature than before, Lavi in some ways, was still the same.

"Lenalee!" Her brother ran towards her and hugged her so tight she thought she couldn't breath. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She laughed as best as she could, then detangled herself from her brother's arms despite his protests. "How are you, brother? Did they find more information on the Noah?"

"Yes," he said solemnly. "Apparently, there's going to be another ball hosted again by the Camelot family next week and the Noah will again be there. Speaking of the Noah, did you find any information?"

She sighed. "No. But we did have a close encounter with two Level Threes and two of the Noah clan. Fortunately we escaped without a lot of injuries, except for Lavi."

"What happened to Lavi?"

"He got hit by one of the Noah," she chuckled nervously. "He's still kind of sore, so I'm getting him an icepack."

Komui laughed and hugged her again. "It's just like my little sister to be so kind!"

She smiled. Then she realized what he had said before. "You said there's going to be another ball in a few weeks?"

"Yes. This one will most likely bring out even more of the Noah out of hiding." He looked questioningly at her. "Why? Do you want to go back?"

An image of David flashed in her head and she fidgeted slightly, attempting to hide her slowly burning up face. "Maybe. Is it all right if I can?"

"All right. But I don't see why—" He stopped, his face going ashen with horror. "Don't tell me you've met a boy!"

It was too late. The minute he had given his approval, she had continued her way down to the kitchen, humming something under her breath and looking a lot more cheerful than before. "Thank you, brother," she called over her shoulder at the distraught Komui. "I'll do my best to come back safely!"

"That's not what I'm worried about! Lenalee!" She had already rounded the corner. "Lenalee!"

---

David rounded the corner and into the kitchen. The scent of melting chocolate reached his senses and his taste buds tingled. However his eyes did not have such luck as the sight of Cyril in an apron reached him. Thankfully it wasn't pink, but it still wasn't too pretty to look at.

_How could this guy even be remotely related to Tyki?_ David thought, disturbed as he took a seat by Road who was now dressed properly (if you could call it proper) in a blue dress that went down to her knees. _Sure, they look alike, but their personalities were completely opposite of one another's._ Suddenly, it registered in his mind that the blue of Road's dress was the exact same shade as Lenalee's dress yesterday, and he fought to hide the flush threatening to rise to the surface again.

"So, why isn't the maid cooking?" He asked just to be infuriating, propping his feet up on the table again. "She taking the day off or something?"

"Nope! I just wanted to make something for my beautiful children!" Cyril chirped, flipping the pancakes. "You two are in for a big job ahead of you, you know. You need nourishment!"

"I'm not your kid," David grumbled, though they had already been over this subject too many times already. Cyril insisted him on treating him like his son, and David had even sometimes felt too embarrassed to even argue about it. Of course, the man had taken that as permission to treat him like so, and now David often worked past his embarrassment to stand up for his dignity.

"You might as well be," Road giggled. It seemed that she was completely avoiding the fact that their talk ever happened. David didn't mind and preferred it stayed that way.

"Oh, like you can talk. You're Daddy's little girl." Road was about to retort before fortunately, Cyril placed a plate of steaming hot pancakes in front of them. The two promptly forgot their argument and dove into the pile, munching furiously.

"Manners," Cyril reproached. "Ah, if only Tyki was here. Unfortunately, my little brother is out doing business and won't be back till later." Cyril sniffed. "He won't even bother to spend time with his family. How sad."

"Doesn't matter to me," David mumbled, mouth full of pancake. "He doesn't need these anyways. With his looks he can probably get this shit for free."

"Manners David!" Cyril chided. "No language at the table either."

David snorted and wisely decided to ignore his 'father', diving right back into the pancakes.

"By the way David, it's your turn to do the shopping," Cyril said, taking a seat beside them both and taking his share of the pancakes. "I won't take no for an answer, you know. I'll give you the list and you can go."

David scowled. "When?"

"How about now? The marketplace isn't as crowded."

He groaned and stuffed one last pancake in his mouth before snatching the list from Cyril's hand and exiting the room, grabbing his bag on his way out. His crosses faded from his face, but his skin and eye colors didn't change one bit.

"Good luck my son!" Cyril called out after him.

"I'm not your kid!" The door slammed shut.

---

"Lenalee." She swiveled around from her place at the table, smiling at the approaching Reever.

"Hello! What is it?"

"Is it all right if you can do the shopping today? All the rest of us are busy." Reever rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Can you, please?"

"Sure," she said and took the slip from his hands. "I'll go now, if that's all right."

"Yeah, that's great!" He said, grinning. "Thanks Lenalee!" Then he left back for the offices, leaving the girl behind, who then stood up and headed for the gate.

Twenty minutes later she had reached the marketplace, humming slightly as she walked towards the fruits, pulling a number of apples from the pile and examining them before saying brightly to the shopkeeper, "I'd like to purchase these please."

"Fifteen seventy-two." She handed him the money and strode away with the large bag of apples he had handed to her, still humming softly.

Quickly, she placed her bag on the ground, crossing out apples from the list. _Let's see_, she thought, _I've gotten oranges, apples, vegetables, some meat, and a bottle of wine. Now I just need—_

A sudden crash sounded out from her side. She blinked and turned.

The contents of her bag were strewn all over the place, oranges and apples rolling to rest at people's feet. The wine bottle was shattered on the pavement, and the packages of vegetables and meat were lying flat on the ground. So was the boy who had most likely tripped over them in the first place.

The boy cursed and sat up, rubbing his head. "Damn, that hurt. What—" He stopped short at the sight of the fallen groceries. "Oh shit. Damn, I'm sorry. Um…" The boy began to pick up the fruits one by one, muttering under his breath.

Lenalee managed to get over her shock and reply quickly, "No, that's alright. Here, let me help." She began to pick up the groceries as well and place them back in her bag.

As the boy placed the last fruit inside, their hands brushed together. They looked up at each other, and both of their eyes widened considerably. Especially Lenalee's.

The twin from the night before was staring her right in the face, golden eyes wildly horrified and stunned. The crosses were gone from his forehead, though his skin was still the same color. His black hair fell around his face, messy from falling. A cut lay on his cheek, trickling blood and mixed with dirt.

For a while they stared, both stunned into silence before the Noah's eyes narrowed. "Hello exorcist." His voice struck a cord of déjà vu in her mind but she brushed that off as last night's encounter and from two years.

"Noah." She nodded her head accordingly and stiffly before standing up with the bag in her arms, her skirt brushing the ground. "Thank you for the help. I'll be leaving to buy another bottle." She turned on her heel and began to head for the wine store once again.

Suddenly, his voice called out behind her. "Hey, wait." It was the Noah.

"What?" She didn't turn and didn't stop moving.

"I'll buy that for you."

"What?" Lenalee was certain she wasn't hearing him right and turned just to be sure. A Noah was asking if he could help her? That was certainly not possible.

"You heard me. Or are you deaf?" He snorted and stood up from where he'd been squatting on the ground, ignoring the stares from the other shoppers.

Her eyes narrowed. "I heard you. And I thank you for the offer, but I don't need it."

"C'mon Exorcist, it can't hurt. Just this and that's it. Nothing to it." The boy grinned and walked towards her until he stood just a bit taller than her in front of her.

She shook her head coldly and turned away to face the shopkeeper who looked visibly shaken. "Another bottle of that wine, please."

"Twenty fifty-two."

A hand suddenly shot over her shoulder and dropped the money into the (now terrified) shopkeeper's hands. "I'll pay for that." The voice sounded too smug for her liking, and she already knew who had spoken before even looking.

Lenalee scowled deeply and turned to the Noah boy, who was grinning like a maniac now as the bottle was pushed into her arms. "Have a nice day Exorcist." Then he began waltz off to a different part of the market, leather jacket rustling slightly.

"Wait!" she called after him.

He stopped short and turned. "What?" he hollered back. She winced at the sound of his voice echoing throughout the market before responding.

"Why did you help me?" she asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why aren't you attacking me like you should be doing? And what are you doing here?"

He stared at her for a few moments. Then he grinned sadistically. "Do you want me to attack you, Exorcist?"

"That wasn't part of my question, Noah."

He shoved his hands behind his head and smirked. "Hey, I can't be working all the time, you know. I've got to have a break once in a while, no matter what the—" He stopped himself then and just smirked. "Well, whatever. Anyways, I'm running an errand for somebody, so buzz off. And next time I find you, Exorcist, you're dead!" Then he raced off, his own bag flapping in the wind.

Lenalee just stared at his retreating back, scowling angrily before turning and stomping off to the candy shop to find the packs of caramel that Jerry had asked for, fuming over the fact that he didn't answer her first question.

When she came back and placed the bag on Jerry's counter, she was surprised to find that her face was burning scarlet red and that there were little tears collecting in the corners of her eyes. Ignoring Komui asking her desperately what was the matter, she stomped back to her room and slammed her door shut.

---

As David grabbed another pear from the stack, he couldn't help but remember the Exorcist's face when she'd looked up at him. Her eyes had widened, her mouth opening slightly just enough to expose the inside of her mouth. Her hair—longer than he remembered back from two years ago, had fallen around her flushed face prettily, accenting some her features rather nicely—

Lord, what was he doing? He wasn't supposed to even be thinking those things about an Exorcist, for crying out loud. It just wasn't right.

Oh, whatever. If he didn't think about her, then he wouldn't have these kinds of thoughts. Problem solved.

_Problem not solved_, a little voice at the back of his head warned him. _You're going to keep thinking about her and you know that, David._

"Be quiet," he muttered out loud, and the lady handing him back his bag of tomatoes gave him an insulted look before turning and talking to the next customer politely while pointedly ignoring him.

_Bitch_, he thought grumpily and hoisted the tomatoes over his shoulder before marching off, shopping finished. _I'm going home_.

_But_, the little voice said, sounding very mischievous, _if Lenalee comes to the ball next time you can see her then and forget about the exorcist girl. And dance with Lenalee too!_ The voice sounded strangely excited. It also sounded way too much like Jasdero when he was still made of flesh and breathing. _Come on, we have to look nice. Cyril won't mind if we go to another store—_

_No! Like I care what Cyril minds! I am not going to another horrible shopping place! What if I bump into another exorcist? Then what'll I do? I can't just say oops, you dropped your bag and try to help them like I helped that girl!_

_You could always run._

L_ike a coward? I don't think so. I'm wearing the same thing as last time and that's final. Plus, Lenalee didn't really seem like the type to be swayed by looks, so there's really no point._ Despite the voice's protests, David kept his path and marched home, setting his mind firmly onto the thought of the ball soon coming.


	3. And so they realize

I know, this is a lot earlier than was expected, even for me. It includes shameless fluff and possibly sap in here, so if you hate that, skip down a few sections. This also has a whole bunch of the plot crammed into it, so hang on tight and try not to lose your way in here, alright?

David finally accepts the wanting (that sounds really wrong, but whatever), Lenalee acts a bit more like a girl than usual, and both realize a few crucial things about each other that will change their view on each other and change their course.

Try to enjoy?

* * *

The halls were buzzing with people and sheer noise as David walked down the carpet, black shoes contrasting with the red velvet. He finally reached the table full of food and grabbed a pastry, munching furiously. Stupid Lulu Bell, not letting them eat until the ball started. Stupid, stuck-up woman.

He tore off another chunk and swallowed noisily, receiving some very scandalized looks from other guests. Damn, did these people have sticks stuck up their asses or something? What was the huge deal about eating like a normal person? Good lord. He adjusted his navy blue mask slightly, straightening it so that it comfortably rested on the bridge of his nose. There. Better.

David then swiveled around towards the crowd and glanced around the room, searching for Lenalee. Was she coming this time? She had said that she had an overprotective brother that would never stop doting on her. Would he try and stop her from coming?

He again fought the flush rising to his cheeks as the image of Lenalee rose into his head, digging his teeth into the pastry again to distract himself. Damn it, he hated waiting. Was she coming or not?

_More importantly_, he told himself, _stop torturing yourself. It's not healthy. So your 'little sister' convinced you that you like her. A lot. Maybe even—_

No. Love was not possible when you've only met once; well, maybe twice from the sense of déjà vu that he got whenever he saw her. But it still wasn't possible!

Right?

The only case of true love that David could somewhat recall was between Tricia and Cyril, he guessed. Cyril had definitely loved Tricia when she was still alive and he had only met her once before asking to marry her. Tricia, of course, had agreed and they had gotten married a month later. Road had said that they were absolutely infatuated with each other, no joke.

Then again, Tyki had also said that Cyril had mostly married Tricia for the sake of adopting Road so maybe that didn't count. So if he was acting, then he sure was good at it. But did Cyril actually love Tricia at all at any time?

Damn it, he was torturing himself again. He opened his mouth one more time for another bite of the pastry when a whisper came from behind him.

"Hi."

He almost—only almost—yelled out, spinning around. Then, his eyes widened and his mouth gaped slightly. The flush was already threatening to rise again and for once, he had no idea how to fight it off.

Lenalee stood before him, her cheeks a delightfully pink color. Her aqua-colored mask glinted in the light, her hands gloved in black, and her dress—wow, her dress. It was a beautiful sky-blue, reaching down and almost brushing the floor because it was so long, barely exposing her black boots.

"Well?" she laughed, obviously looking at his gaping expression. "How does it feel to be the one scared?"

He scowled, the flush reaching his pale cheeks. This was why he didn't like changing into a human. It was way too easy to read how you were feeling that way. "I wasn't scared. I was just—startled," he choked out.

She giggled, and the flush deepened. Why did she have to be so cute? "That's practically the same thing, David."

Oh lord, why? It just wasn't fair.

"David?" She looked curiously at him and leaned forward to meet his face, examining him. "Are you alright? Are you sick or something?"

Oh my God. He couldn't even move as she frowned slightly. The whispers in the crowd grew louder, and she seemed to realize what she was doing. She quickly leaned back again, face beet red in embarrassment. For a while, both of them just stood there, each fidgeting and unsure of what to do.

_Come on, do something you socially retarded moron!_ The voice in his head howled. _This is your chance! Flirt! Kiss! Hug! Do something!_

Telling the voice very firmly to shut the hell up, David managed to clear his throat, wiped the embarrassing flush off his face and hold out his hand in invitation. "Do you want to dance?"

She smiled shyly—the flush began to rise again (damn it, it had just gone away)—and placed her gloved hand in his. Together they walked out into the center of the room and began to move along with the calm music in the background.

"So," David said, smirking slightly, "How've you been, Ms. Black Boots?" He stepped back and Lenalee stepped with him, who laughed a bit when she accidentally stepped on his toes.

"My black boots and I have been fine, thank you very much," she said, still giggling slightly. _Well at least she's a lot more cheerful than the last time she was here_, David thought. Last time she had been really uptight, as if she was trying to find a person that she really didn't want to see. "And how have you been, Oh Graceful One?" she teased when she stepped to the side and he stumbled slightly right over his own feet. _Smooth_, he told himself.

"Just great," he smirked, recovering quickly from his blunder. "And I am the epitome of graceful, thank you very much. That was done on purpose."

"Right," she chuckled. Taking his hand, she twirled underneath and pulled back into his body as the sign of the next movement.

All of David's senses went on at that precise moment. Now he knew this was part of the dance, but still. Having a girl's body (besides Road's when she bugged him a lot and was particularly hyper) actually touching him was electrifying, unfamiliar, and terrifying at the same time. He rather liked it. In fact, it was—

_No!_ A very different voice than the one before screamed inside his head. To David's great shock (not to mention horror), it sounded remarkably like Jasdero. _Don't forget about me!_

_What the hell was that?_ Shaken, he managed to get his act together in just enough time to step back slightly and get back into the rhythm of the dance with Lenalee.

---

Lenalee spun to the time of the music and glanced back at David. She furrowed her brow at his suddenly pale complexion and she pulled back in, leaning in close enough to whisper, "Are you all right? You don't look well."

He blinked. "Huh? No, I'm fine, Lenalee."

She frowned. "You're lying, you know. I grew up around a lot of people. I can tell when people are lying."

He sighed deeply, pulling her to the side and back. "It's fine Lenalee. Don't worry about it."

Her frown deepened. She glanced around towards the end of the room where Allen was (Komui had insisted that he come with her for obvious reasons) and made sure he wasn't paying attention to her. After only a few more steps to the music, she pulled David out of the dance and towards the door.

"What—Lenalee?" David sounded particularly startled, especially since he probably had never really expected her to be this strong. "Lenalee, what's going on? Did I say something?" She kept her back towards him, grip never ceasing. "Lenalee?"

She finally stopped in the Camelot's garden, head cast down. The moonlight shone on them both, casting their shadows long and thin on the grass. She released his wrist and clenched her own with the opposite hand. "I know you don't want me to worry, but I can't help it. My friends…" Her hands shook as she glanced back at him again. "My friends are my world. If they go, if they don't feel as safe as I do, I will never feel safe again."

"Lenalee…" David began to say. "I didn't mean to—"

"I know you didn't. That's the problem." She turned back to him, pressing her lips in a thin line. To her own mortification, she could already feel tears prickling in the corners of her eyes. "David, I need to ask you something. Even last time, I could notice it." She looked at his startled expression plastered all over his face. "David, did no one ever pay attention to you before? Is that why sometimes you can be so…" She waved a hand in the air. "So…"

"So what?"

"So different from everyone else! Back then, the last time I met you, you said that your father only paid attention to your little sister and that your uncle never really was around. You never mentioned anything about anyone paying attention to you, or doting on you at all. Even when I asked you what was wrong just then, you just told me that nothing was wrong and not to worry about it." She glared at him tearfully. "Is that why?"

David looked much too shocked into saying anything at all. All he did was stare at her, his mask glowing in the moonlight.

"Well?" she practically shouted. Something rustled in the bushes and a squirrel ran out, obviously on a late night acorn-patrol "Is that it, or am I just being silly?"

David rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, you did kind of overdo the dramatics a bit."

She scowled. "Answer my question David." The déjà vu resurfaced, reminding her distinctly of the Noah twin, but she pushed it back down firmly. Lenalee waited.

---

David pressed his lips together and furrowed his brow. How could he even answer that? It was a tough question that had neither a right or wrong answer. It was true that Cyril doted on Road a lot—far more than David, he knew, but didn't he still make pancakes for both of them? And didn't he buy him that leather jacket he wore yesterday when he saw the—

No. Don't think about her now.

_Oh come on, she is pretty_, the voice sighed grudgingly. _She's even about as pretty as Lenalee is. In fact, she looks a bit like her too_. That last comment shook David to his core, but he managed to shake it off and retaliate:

_When will you ever shut up?_

"David? Are you going to answer my question or not?" Lenalee's hands were now firmly on her hips, her black boots tapping on the grassy floor.

David took a deep breath. "That's…hard to say. I know that he spends a lot more time with my sister than me, but I also know that he does care about me too. At least, I think so." At Lenalee's tearing-up look, he backtracked. "I mean, I know! I know he cares about me! And my other relatives too, even though they can be incredibly weird most of the time. Just…" He shifted awkwardly on one foot to another. "Don't cry, okay? Jeez." He mumbled the last part, his face slowly coloring to a shade that even the brightest tomato would have been proud of.

She stared at him from under her mask, lips parted slightly. David suddenly noticed that her lips looked very shiny and alluring from under the moonlight and mentally slapped himself for even thinking about that now.

"Uh…you aren't going to cry, are you?" _Please don't_, David pleaded inwardly. _I don't know how to comfort anyone when they're crying. I'm not good at it._

To his great surprise, she smiled a small, sad smile that had David's face flushing even further. He hoped that he was lucky enough not to die of overheating in his brain.

"Thank you David," she said softly. "I'm glad." And then she leaned forward and hugged him for real, her hair briefly brushing underneath his neck. David promptly saw fireworks dancing in front of his eyes at the close contact and wondered what was he supposed to do now. Well, usually people hugged back, so…

Shifting his arms slightly, unsure of whether or not if this was all right, he awkwardly reached back and wrapped his arms around her. It was apparent that she had forgotten the thing that had made them come out here in the first place. David would rather that she forgot just in case she started crying again. He was fortunate enough not to get shaken off by her.

Together, for so long that they had no idea how long it had been when the people started to file out of the ballroom, they stood under the moon and the stars in an embrace.

It seems, David thought as he peeked at the sky, as if the stars are dancing.

---

"So the next ball is when?" Lenalee said eagerly back at headquarters a few hours later.

Komui and the others stared at her in disbelief. "What?" They spluttered—Komui was the loudest. Lenalee was certain that he had been hoping that she had severed the ties between her and the boy that she was 'seeing'.

Unfortunately, Lenalee thought, giggling softly as she realized, His hopes had turned out completely opposite of what had really happened. And she was glad that it had turned out that way.

"Well, brother?" she teased, gazing expectantly up at him with a smile on her face. "Have they found out yet?"

Komui snapped out of his traumatic thinking just enough to cough and turn towards the stunned Reever. "Y-yes. Reever! Tell Lenalee when it is." Her brother then stumbled into the next room, and Lenalee could hear his sobs echoing from all the way across the hall.

Reever winced at the noise, took a sip of his coffee, and pulled out a sheet of paper. "The next ball is apparently in a few weeks Lenalee. But this time, it's not a masked ball." He turned towards Lenalee with a worried look on his face. "Are you all right with that?"

Lenalee felt troubled. Should she or should she not go? She wasn't sure if all of the Noah would recognize her at all with or without the mask, but the twin and Lulu Bell had seen her without it. What if they were there?

Her mind flashed to the Noah twin and David at the same time, and her eyes widened. What if…

Oh my. Well, that would be a disaster. Was that why she had gotten such familiar vibes from them both? Lord, she hoped not.

She decided, horribly, rashly, to take the life deciding risk. "I'll do it," she said, holding her head up high.

Reever smiled. "You're pretty brave, Lenalee," he said.

She smiled back and curtsied. The feeling of David's arms wrapped around her came back, still as comforting as before (though the realization of before was still strong in her mind), and her smile grew even wider. "I always am."

When she got there, she had a few questions to ask David. Oh, yes.

---

"David!" He turned, cheeks still warm from before.

"Yeah, Cyril?"

"I told you to call me 'father'," the man reproached.

"And I've told you no. What is it?"

"I just happened to looking out my window earlier tonight—" David froze, now certain what it was Cyril wanted to talk about. "And I just happened to see you and a young lady embracing in the moonlight so romantically that it brought a tear to my eye. Is this the same young lady from before?"

"…maybe," David muttered, turning on his heel and striding down the hall. He removed his mask in the process, his eyes turning from blue to gold and black crosses breaking out across his forehead. The suit morphed into a leather jacket and strange black pants with crisscrossed openings on the front and back. The make-up began to distinctly show up again on his face. _It's the same thing that I used to wear when Jasdero was here_, he thought, and was reminded sharply of the voice in his head back then. Immediately he blocked out the thought.

"David," his 'father' pouted, clutching David's arm so tightly David thought it would snap. Cyril may look wimpy, David thought, but he was actually pretty strong. "Don't be mean. Tell me."

The guy could actually be Road's legitimate father, David thought in horror. No wonder he had wanted to adopt her. They were way too similar.

"David," Cyril drew out, squeezing his arm harder. David's eye began to water. That was his good arm too. "Don't be cold to your father! Tell me, tell me."

David rolled his eyes. "Fine. She's the same girl. Happy?"

"Ecstatic! Perhaps we could find her family and ask them for a proper—"

"No!" David's voice was sharp. He couldn't help but think of how the voice had pointed out about how similar Lenalee had looked to the exorcist girl. Perhaps…

They were the same? He blinked, winced a few times. That would be disastrous.

Cyril looked startled and his grip loosened on David's arm. "Alright David, alright."

David smirked and strode for the door, jacket hanging loosely over his darkened shoulder. Unconsciously, he fingered his gun in the belt of his pants. If he found any exorcists, he'd shoot them in the head. And if he found that girl…

His mouth pressing down in a thin line as he slammed open the door. He strode out into the night. Well. Let's just say he had a few questions to ask her.

David headed down the street, feeling a swirling of emotions in his stomach. God, why couldn't he just not have thought about that stupid possibility in the first place? He had been so damn happy at the beginning, and now—

Now he didn't know what to think. Sure, he had known that the exorcists were probably watching out for them too, and were probably trying to collect information about them somehow, but he hadn't expected a girl to be one of the spies.

He was just too naïve, he decided, and continued to stalk down the street.

Suddenly, a flash of gold went past his eyes, and he swiveled around, only to see a person with long flowing golden hair walk past him. His eyes widened, and he reached out on instinct, clasping that person on the shoulder tightly.

The person turned and snarled. It wasn't his other half. Of course David should have known. It was just…

Never mind. It was useless now.

"What the hell are you doin'?" the person snarled, his face much too manly to even be remotely like Jasdero's. "Do you know who the hell I am?"

"Sorry," David snapped back, letting go of the person's shoulder as quickly as he had grabbed on. "I thought you were someone else."

"Well, y'know what ya have to do now?" The person called out to someone in the back of the alleyway and a bunch of men, all much older (and muscle bound, David noted sadly) than David was. "Ya have to pay for touchin' me, that's what." The person pointed to him and shouted. "Get him!"

If he had been feeling normal, he probably would've just shot their brains out and left, muttering something or other under his breath. But this was not the case at this moment. David was not feeling normal at the moment. Right now, he just felt so sick and tired of even thinking about Lenalee that he let the men leap on top of him and begin to punch and kick after he discreetly hid his gun under him (no way those shit heads were touching that). Maybe this would help him get some sleep that night.

_Maybe_, he thought as the world drifted away, _he wouldn't __wake up._

_---_

The next morning, Lenalee headed back down to the marketplace with a list of medical supplies in her hands. Goodness, didn't Kanda and Allen ever stop fighting? She supposed not, and sighed heavily, shifting the empty bag to her other shoulder. Some things just never changed, did they?

She purchased the supplies, said thank you to the shopkeeper and was just heading back down the street when a hint of gold caught her eye. Her eyes flickered back to the sight, and they widened considerably.

There in a small alleyway was the Noah twin (or possibly David, she noted, wincing slightly at the reference), crosses and all, looking far worse than she had ever seen him before. His clothes were ripped all over, some parts hanging in strips off the main cloth. There were bruises already blossoming all over his body, mostly on his chest and face (which, by the way, was bleeding rather profusely). As well as bruises, there was dirt and footprints on his chest, which was also leaking blood like a leaky faucet. He was lying flat on his back, head lolling to the side, eyes closed and breathing shallowly. And right under him was his gun, glinting the same shade of gold that Lenalee had seen and caught her eye.

Good God. Lenalee felt bile rising at the back of her throat at the horrible sight. Who would do such a thing?

Well, she couldn't just leave him there. That would be far too cruel, even for a Noah that had once threatened her and mocked her. It just wasn't in her nature to be cruel like that to somebody.

Especially if that person had a distinct possibility of being David, who had held her and laughed with her like a normal human, not like a Noah with dark skin and eyes that were gold like the sun.

Lenalee bit her lip, then glanced down at the medical supplies in her bag. Should she…?

Well, it was much too dangerous to move him; that was obvious. And even if he could be moved, it was not an option to take him to headquarters or to a normal civilian home. The Order would question her motives, and the civilians would be questioning all sorts of things that she couldn't answer, as well as stare at the crosses on his forehead.

She chewed on her lip for a while, staring at the limp body. People passed, not taking much notice at her, as they were too busy with their normal lives to even be thinking about others actions.

Finally, after much toil and decision, Lenalee sighed, walked over and pulled out her supplies. Leaning down, she began to apply an ointment to his face.

She just hoped that she wouldn't regret this later.


	4. And so they confront

So there is more crammed plot and fluff inside this chapter. Oh my, oh my. There is also angst. Yes. And a plot twist! Ooh~

P.S. I will edit this as soon as I finish the whole story. Hang tight, and enjoy the chapter as much as you can!

* * *

And even though David had been sincerely hoping not to wake up and deal with the things swirling around in his head before he was knocked out, he woke up anyways, head ringing like the apocalypse was coming.

Life just hated him, didn't it?

He opened his eyes slightly and winced as the left side of his face throbbed horribly. Oh, right. One of those stupid thugs had punched him there last night. He reached his fingers up and prodded his eye, wincing again as his hand drew back and regarded his fingers curiously. For some strange reason, they were covered in an unfamiliar ointment that David was fairly certain hadn't been there last night.

He shifted his arms (which he noted, to some extent of relief, were still in the Noah's shade of gray) and, with some effort, pushed himself to a sitting position. He could hear some things in his chest pop and snap, and he stopped himself before he could start yelling with pain. Crap, that hurt.

"Well, you're awake. I thought you were never going to get up."

His heart temporarily stopped beating for a few beats, and he turned slightly, freezing when he caught a glimpse of who had spoken.

It was the exorcist girl.

_Who could be Lenalee!_ The little voice piped up, and was very forcefully shoved back down again. _Well, it's true_, it said, voice now muffled.

Well, the voice had a point. Now that he looked more closely at the girl, he saw a ton of things that were similar to Lenalee's features that the denial had tried to excuse. Her lips, her skin, hell, the shape of her hair were all pretty much the same as Lenalee's, he realized with a plummeting feeling in his stomach.

"Are you going to say something at all?" she asked. Damn. Even her voice was almost the same. _You mean exactly the same_, the voice chirped, and was promptly shoved even deeper into the chasms of David's mind.

David decided to act like he usually did when he was in Noah form and snorted. Maybe she hadn't thought about the possibility of him being that David yet. "I didn't need your damn help," he snarled, voice hoarse.

She raised an eyebrow. "From the looks of things, I'd say you did."

"I didn't need it," he insisted, and attempted to stand, only to have to sit back down again at the prompt pop-snap from his knees.

"Damn it," he grumbled, patting down on the ground for his gun and pulled it out. Thank god those idiots hadn't found it. He tucked it safely into the holster before continuing. "Exorcist, didn't I tell you that if I found you again, I'd kill you?" Not because I wanted to, but because I had to? He thought secretly.

The girl laughed, and to David's dismay, she sounded just like Lenalee then. "Technically, I found you, David, so it doesn't count." She then looked up at him, face serious. "Is your name David?"

His heart began to plummet, and he stared at her in horror.

Damn it, she knew.

She smiled sadly. "I thought so."

"When did you—"

"Last night. After I got back home, I realized something. Every time I've spoken either with the Noah side of you, or your other side, I've gotten horrible waves of déjà vu. Whenever I talk with you, I see either side of you in my head. It only makes sense." She chuckled slightly, smile fading off of her face. "I was hoping it wouldn't." She glanced at him. "I don't know how long you've known as well, but it doesn't matter anymore, David."

David swallowed, every instinct in his body currently telling him to _ge__t the hell out of here, it's not safe!_ Unfortunately, nothing would move. Not one bit.

Oh, fuck. He was so screwed.

She peeked at him, smiling sort of bitterly. "Well? Aren't you going to try to contradict me?"

Internally, he groaned. His human side would do a lot better at this.

So he changed. His skin melted back into a pale, almost white color. The crosses faded back into his head, the make-up fading as well as his eyes swiftly changed back from gold to navy blue. The clothes changed back into last night's, now tattered and dirt splattered. His mask lay in his hand, strings touching the ground.

"No," David said, his voice sounding much lighter than before, "I won't."

Lenalee looked taken aback. Then, she smiled again—brighter, David noted with some relief. "What David, didn't you change last night before you decided to get beaten up?"

He smirked slightly and shifted his weight, ignoring the popping in his hips. "I didn't have to."

She glanced at him, smiled for a brief second, then back at the floor. To his great surprise, she wasn't yelling or doing anything that might attract attention.

"Well?" he said, coughing a bit. "So what now?"

"Huh?" She looked up.

"You know. Now what do we do, Lenalee?" It felt odd, addressing her for some reason. Was it because he now knew that she was an exorcist?

Lenalee looked visible shaken, and stared back down at the floor. She spoke carefully, as if not knowing what would set him off now. It kind of made him irritated and sad at the same time. "I don't know, really. I mean, all you've been is nice to me, even when you were a Noah. I…" she wrung her hands, and to David's absolute horror, she looked about ready to start crying again. "Oh, I wish I didn't have to find out! Then maybe we could have still been like that, in the ballroom. Now I don't know whether to kill you because you're a Noah or still act the same around you because you're still the David I knew."

David really didn't know how to respond to that. Shifting his feet awkwardly (and very painfully), he muttered, "I guess I'm sorry."

"You guess!" she shrieked, raising her head up again. David flinched. Now she looked positively furious.

He would never understand women and their mood swings. Ever.

"You didn't even hint to me that you had a double life! Or that you were potentially lethal! How could you?" she shrieked again, eyes tearing fast.

David felt indignation rise up in his chest, and he snarled back, "And what about you? Why didn't you tell me that you were an Exorcist? Don't tell me that I'm the only one to be blamed here, because you could you not tell me anything either?" He could already feel his Noah form slipping back on at the sign of his anger, his voice turning rough and angry and for once, he didn't really care about that at all.

"Well—" She struggled a bit before shouting back, "Well, it's not my fault! I couldn't just tell you that I was someone who killed demons made out of human souls any day of the week!"

"And what about me? Could I just tell you that I was only one part of a person and demon all into one body? I don't think so!"

"Well, you tried to kill me!"

"I didn't know who you were!"

"That's not an excuse! What about that time you threatened me in Noah's Ark and hit me with your gun?"

"I was stupid and I didn't know you well then! And yes, it is!"

Both of them stared heatedly at one another, nostrils flaring in indignation.

To David's own surprise and extreme embarrassment, it wasn't Lenalee who felt like crying at the moment. It was himself. Already tears were welling up in his eyes, threatening to rush down his cheeks and mess up the make-up in his Noah's form.

Lenalee's expression faded into surprise, concern even, and she reached out slightly. "David, are you—" She stopped herself at the last minute, remembering who they were and where they were and drew back her hand. His insides twisted, and the tears rose even faster.

"No." Even his voice was starting to choke. This was so embarrassing. He hadn't cried since he was eight when he and Jasdero were a single person and had just become a Noah. Worse, he didn't know why he was crying in the first place.

Fuck.

The tears began to leak from the corners of his eyes and the lump in his throat grew so much that he couldn't breathe properly anymore. He reached his relatively good hand up and brushed them angrily away with his sleeve.

All Lenalee did was stare in absolute shock. "D-David?"

He spoke again with some difficulty and that embarrassing choke in his throat still. "It's fine, damn it. Look, I don't even know why the hell I'm crying, okay? So just don't ask me." His make-up was already starting to run down his cheeks in a black river, and he desperately wished for a tissue at hand.

_Today is the worst day ever._

---

Lenalee could only stare at David as the tears began to flow down his face, mixing in the black make-up that had appeared when he (most likely unconsciously) changed into his Noah form. A pang of something—guilt, probably, pushed at her insides.

She made him cry. Even though he was still blatantly denying it and she should be the one crying now instead, it still didn't ease the guilt now practically clawing at her insides. Sure, Lenalee wanted to comfort him and tell him that she was sorry, but it was sort of his fault too. And she was still mad at him. So she would sit here and do nothing. Right.

The guilt began to rip little parts off her insides as she watched him, and she bit her lip to stop herself from reaching out. _I will not comfort him, I will not comfort him, I will not—_

_But he comforted you, didn't he? Even though you were mad at him then_, her consciousness pointed out to her. _He didn't let it stop him from trying to make you stop crying._

It was right. Lenalee sighed and pushed back her anger a few steps back before speaking in a small voice.

"David?"

He didn't respond, as he was currently muttering to himself and using his white undershirt to rub at the tears still stubbornly running down his cheeks.

"David, I'm sorry."

He looked up then, looking slightly peeved and mollified at the same time. Lenalee's heart began to give out as she saw the little black rivers marking their way all the way down to David's chin. Why was he so cute and pathetic at the same time? "What?"

"I'm sorry," she said in a tiny voice, fidgeting with the hem of her dress in slight agitation. "I didn't mean to say those things. I was just…" She trailed off. "I was just scared."

"Why? What, am I too scary for you now?" David teased half-heartedly, attempted to make a little smirk. She couldn't help the sudden twitching of her lips right then.

"No. You were never scary." At this he scowled slightly, but remained silent. "I was scared that maybe since you knew I was an exorcist, you wouldn't want to be near me anymore." The realization hit her like a train, but she managed to remain calm out the outside. "I was scared because even though I now knew you were a Noah, I still wanted to be near to you because you make me happy." She looked at him, managing to keep her gaze steady. "Is that wrong, David? Do you…" Her voice began to choke. "Do you not want to be near me anymore?"

_Jeez,_ she thought, feeling frustrated. How come whenever she was around him, Noah or human, she felt like she had to be so emotional? Like she had to break out and pour everything that she was thinking to him, no matter what? Not even her closest friends had made her feel that way, and this boy was already making her an emotional blabbermouth.

Why?

David looked at her blearily through his tears, wiping his eyes slightly. His gold eyes (just like the sun, Lenalee privately thought) stared into her, beautiful and haunting all at once in one huge rush of emotion.

"Lenalee," he began, voice muffled, as he was talking through his now black-stained shirt. He took several deep breaths before beginning, voice rushed and hasty and wanting to get out whatever it was he had to say. "Lenalee, I want to be near you. I do!" he hastened, catching a glimpse of her now doubting expression. "I really do. I just don't know how—"

A shadow fell behind him, blocking out the sun. They both turned around just a bit too late, their eyes wide and dreading.

There was a crash, a boom, and a scream.

Then there was silence.

---

David pulled out of the smoke, coughing and hacking from the smoke that the Akuma bullet had produced. He leapt onto the top of the wall, ignoring the pain in his feet as he landed. To his immense relief, Lenalee pulled up beside him, her Innocence activated and ready. Her face was set in a tight expression at the sight of the Level Three Akuma standing below them, its mouth twisted in a horrible grin.

"Hey, Level Three!" David shouted hoarsely. "What's the big idea, huh?"

It laughed, a creaking noise that sent chills down David's spine. "The big idea?" it creaked. "The big idea is that we are not loyal to you anymore, _Master_ Noah. Our loyalty is null and void." It laughed again, louder this time.

Lenalee exchanged looks of astonishment and horror with David. The Akuma were revolting against the Noah? This was much, much different than either of them had anticipated.

_The world is changing_, David faintly remembered the Earl saying to him once after Jasdero had vanished into David's body on the brink of death, just to save David. The guilt throbbed in the back of his skull as the Earl's voice echoed in his head. _Soon it will go in a direction that even I will not have written in my script. Perhaps—and here, the Earl had chuckled—Perhaps Noah and the exorcist's God are designing a treaty at last to change this world forever._

_Was this what they had had designed?_ David thought, wincing as the Akuma's laugh continued on and on. W_as this the future that they had thought was necessary?_

"The Akuma will rise without the help of the Earl! We shall rule this world and rid it of you pathetic humans." It clacked its jaw. "I'll start with you, Sir David and Exorcist." It lunged.

The two of them jumped in opposite directions as the Akuma's armored feet crashed into the place where the two of them had been. David landed in the street, wincing as one of his feet cracked under the pressure. Lenalee landed on another balcony, glancing back at him.

"Are you alright?" she shouted to him, leaping out of the Akuma's reach once again.

"I'm fine! Worry about yourself now." Quickly he pulled out his gun from the holster and aimed it for the Akuma's head. He knew that it would be useless, but it was worth the effort in order to distract the beast. "Red bomb! Blazing Red Inferno!"

The fire sped towards the Akuma and hit. It jerked only slightly and laughed. "What is it you're trying to do, Master David? Are you just that—" It stopped, and to David's surprise (not to mention Lenalee's), the Akuma actually started to burn inside the now leaping flames, shrieking in pain.

"What?" it screeched. "What is this? This is not Innocence, and yet—ah!" It screamed again, writhing and twisting as its frame began to melt.

Lenalee, shaking herself from her confusion, took advantage of the opportunity and leapt forward. Her feet curved in an arc as it sailed downwards, slicing straight through the Akuma's hard exterior and releasing the soul within. It vanished along with the flames surrounding it, leaving two stunned almost-humans behind in the world with only scorch marks proving that it had existed.

Lenalee leapt down in front of David, her boots changing back into a normal form as the Innocence boots transformed into red crystal anklets. She reached out and touched his face gently. His skin immediately felt like it was on fire and the flush, long dormant, began to rise again. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Positive," he managed to get out, turning to look at the place where the Akuma had been. His brow furrowed, and he glanced down at his gun warily. It wasn't Innocence, was it? He had enough of that in his left arm without it.

"Is your gun made of Innocence?" Lenalee asked, quizzical as she glanced over the golden gun in bemusement. "Because that's the only explanation I can come up with in order to explain this. It's unheard of for anything besides Innocence to destroy an Akuma." Her brow furrowed.

"I don't think so," David said, turning it over in his hand. "Otherwise it would have rejected me a long time ago, wouldn't it? 'Cause, you know, I'm a Noah and all."

She pursed her lips together. "Hm." Her eyes narrowed as she thought. "David, I think we should see my brother."

David almost choked on his own spit. "What?" he spluttered. 'Are you nuts? He's from the Order, isn't he? He'll torture me and try to kill me for information, right?"

Lenalee shook her head. "Normally I think he would, but this is not the case. Your gun is not made of the Innocence, nor are the bullets that come out. But somehow, they still managed to destroy a Level Three Akuma. It's a change that no one has foreseen in future, past, or present. He would want to examine it before doing anything to your wellbeing."

_The world is changing_, the Earl's voice echoed in David's head once again, and David felt a pit of unease growing in his stomach. The world _was_ changing. It was a terrifying thought, a vast one as well. No one knew what the world would be like once it changed completely, and that caused fear and death.

He did not like fear. Or death for that matter.

_There was, however, one thing_, David realized in one swift thought, _that could change the future in their favor._

"Lenalee," he said, voice trembling with excitement. "Before we go see your brother, we need to make another stop first."

She looked questioningly at him. "What? Where?"

David grinned enormously. "I think we need to go see my family."

She spluttered for a few minutes, floundering before saying, "Why?"

"Because, don't you get it? If the Akuma have betrayed us, then that means that they've turned against their creators and become their own separate minds. It might also mean—" Here, his voice rose in the excitement it was pitching forth. "It might also mean that since I can destroy the Akuma now, they might be able to destroy them as well with their own abilities."

Lenalee's eyes widened and she grinned as widely as him. "Yes, of course! There is always that possibility. David, that's a wonderful idea." She beamed at him, smile now radiant in its glow. David felt the flush rising even higher.

Then her smile faded slightly, and she glanced down at the ground. "But, David—"

"What?"

"What if—what if they don't approve of the idea? What if they don't come?"

They were silent for a few moments before they both simultaneously realized what the statement implicated. They both flushed and looked away.

"I—I didn't mean it like that," Lenalee hastened to squeak, face turning pinker by the minute.

"I know you didn't," David choked out. "L—let's just go, okay?"

She looked at him again in worry, and he realized that she was genuinely afraid. "David, what if they try to hurt me?"

David stared blankly at her for a few moments before bursting into laughter.

"Wh—what?" she stammered out, scowling. "What's so funny?"

"Jeez, Lenalee, you're so weird," he wheezed out, wiping another tear from his black smudged face. "Don't worry about it, alright? You have a really strong Innocence that will defend you if they attack, you're smart enough to think of a strategy, and—" He stammered a bit on this. "And you're cute enough so my father won't attack you. There. Feeling better now?"

She smiled, now blushing again. "A little."

He grinned and grabbed her hand, all awkwardness from the past hour gone out the window. "And hey, think about this—if you can't protect yourself, I will."

Her smile grew faintly mocking and teasing. "And that makes me feel so much better how?"

David scoffed. "How dare you have such little faith in me!"

She laughed, the sound ringing like a chime in his ears as they headed down the street, still clasping each other's hands.

_Today_, David thought, _is a new beginning for the world._


	5. And so they move

So I'm not that happy with this chapter. For one thing, it has all these tiny little plot holes inside that are tempting me to tear my hair out, and for another there's a bunch of characterization mistakes. But hey, that's what rough drafts are for, right?

Advise and enjoy!

* * *

"So the Akuma have revolted?" Tyki said, brow furrowing and clasping his hands under his chin. "And there is a possibility that maybe now we are able to destroy them? Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Road said, sipping her tea. "Are you sure you weren't just suffering from blood loss and hallucinations from those injuries you got?"

"How could we not be sure, guys? The thing was a Level Three and everything. It said that they would kill off the humans, not just that single Akuma." David bit his lip in frustration. Damn it, why was it that whenever he was so sure about something, they had to just go and doubt him? It wasn't fair. So he made some mistakes in the past. So what? Were they going to judge him for life on those things?

He looked around the table at all his family gathered here now. Since Lenalee had come here, Cyril had gathered all of the remaining Noah back here; which wasn't too much, to be honest. All of the others had been killed off in fights a while ago. All were here except for the Earl.

Where was the Earl, anyway? Road, Tyki, and Cyril had seen him two years ago, but that was about the last time anyone ever heard from him again until now, not to mention see him.

Well, at least Lenalee believed him. Even though she was his witness.

He quickly glanced over through the corner of his eyes at Lenalee. She was fidgeting in her seat, though not quite visibly if you were sitting on the other side of the table. Her fingers kept twiddling, her toes curled into her feet as a sign of nervousness.

David blinked at his assumption. How did he know what Lenalee was feeling? Maybe she was just hungry or something and that's why she kept fidgeting. Ignoring the confusion now going on in his own chest, he flicked his eyes back to his family. He really hoped they didn't see that.

Road, who had better eyesight than most of the Noah, had seen it, as she grinned slightly behind her teacup.

David glared at her. _Don't you say anything_, said his eyes.

_I won't_, said hers, and Road inconspicuously took another sip of her tea.

Tyki sat back in his seat and chewed his lip in thought. Then, he sighed and leaned back in. "Well obviously we have to tell the Earl to stop making them, otherwise their army is going to be unstoppable."

David blinked again. "You believe me?"

Tyki smirked. "Yeah. Or I at least believe that young lady's approval."

David growled and was about to open his mouth before Lenalee cut in. "That's why you have to come to the Order," Lenalee said, sounding desperate but firm. "The exorcists know a lot about killing the Akuma, even Level Fours. We could help teach you."

Road blinked, then giggled. "That sounds a bit overbearing, Lenalee."

Lenalee scowled. "Since when are you so friendly?"

Cyril slammed his hands onto the table. "And since when," he growled, "Can you talk to my daughter like that?" His skin darkened considerably, and his eyes began to waver from black to gold and back to black again.

No one dared to say anything, just waited for Cyril to get a hold of him self before going on. David glared at Cyril warningly. Cyril might have been…family, but David wasn't going to let him hurt Lenalee. No way.

When he seemed as if Cyril wasn't going to attack her or anything, Lenalee finally responded, "I apologize Road. But really, what I'm trying to get at is that we could possible design a treaty together so that we may work side by side without too much conflict."

Cyril then butted in, eyebrows raised in hostility and genuine curiosity. David recognized that look, the political one, that one look where Cyril was making a negotiation. "And why would even try to get along with you all? We have been trying to kill each other for three years now. Is it worth fighting together over a bunch of Akuma?"

Lenalee held her head up high. "Do you want everyone and everything to be wiped out, including you all? Remember, the Akuma said that they had no more loyalty to you all. Why shouldn't they attack you?"

There was silence as they all comprehended this. Then, Lulu Bell said quietly—always quietly, David remembered—and stoically, "What if your kind attacks us? Remember, the Noah are not deemed as just mere humans in you Exorcist's eyes. It is possible that we will get attacked the minute we arrive without first hearing out your story."

Lenalee turned her gaze on Lulu Bell, never wavering. "Then I will stop them myself."

David gave a little smirk at Lulu Bell's struck expression. That was just like Lenalee all right.

Tyki winced and stood up, cracking his back a little before saying, "Well, not point in just sitting here. We should go."

"Wait," David finally said. All eyes turned to him. "We should back our things first."

"Why?"

"David is right. You should." David gave her a faint smile for that, and Lenalee flushed a light pink.

"No one's told us why yet."

"Because the Akuma could come back and attack this home thinking that we're still here," David said, snorting faintly at their bemused expressions. "What, you honestly didn't think of that yet? Idiots."

David didn't have quite enough time to dodge Road's shoe as it smacked him in his face.

---

As Lenalee sat in the carriage as it clacked up the pathway towards the Order, she wondered vaguely if this was the wisest idea. Sitting next to Road and David in the carriage, she began to scratch at her wrist in agitation, wondering what if they couldn't protect themselves against the onslaught of Akuma. David looked exhausted, Road looked too nervous and thoughtful to even be of use, and she herself was tired and scared. The Noah's bags lay on their sides on the floor of the carriage, shuddering as the carriage hit some particularly rough parts in the road.

_The Akuma aren't predictable anymore_, she thought. _That's what makes this so terrifying, is that we can't tell where they'll strike at all._

She glanced out the window several times into the woods, watching the blurry forms of Tyki, Cyril, and Lulu Bell speed their way up the pathway and out of sight. The Noah had decided that it would be best if they split up, Road, David, and Lenalee in the carriage (driven by a human, in this case), and Cyril, Tyki, and Lulu Bell running, as they were the best in shape.

Glancing at the already darkening sky in the distance, a coil of unease roiled in her gut, she pulled her knees up against her chest and slid to the floor. Was there no end to war in this world? No end to terror, to bloodshed and Akuma, the things she had known all her life? And why was it that she kept asking herself these painful questions?

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up, eyes widening slightly as David smirked at her sleepily. "Hey," he mumbled, eyes blinking with the effort to keep awake. "Don't mope."

She scowled as her spirits lifted slightly. She thwacked him on the arm. "And you," she teased, "Don't be lazy."

He laughed. "I am not. 'M just tired." His eyes slid shut, then back open again. "Still, don't mope, okay? Otherwise I'm going to feel like I have to buy some weird shit in order to make you happy."

She laughed with him, scowl gone from her face. "You don't have to buy me anything. It's fine if you sleep; one of us will wake you up if something happens."

Lenalee didn't have to tell him twice. Immediately David's eyes slid back shut and did not open again.

She smiled faintly, not picking herself off the floor (it was somehow very comfortable). He looked rather endearing when he was sleeping, not because he was beaten into it, but because he did it voluntarily.

Wow, she was confusing herself.

To Lenalee's surprise, Road hopped down next to her on the floor, ignoring the bumps and rocking that was far more significant down here.

"So, Lenalee," Road smiled mischievously. "David says he likes you."

…what? "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Road giggled, golden eyes glinting with glee. "He likes you. He said so after he first met you. I made him admit it."

Lenalee felt shocked, mortified, and pleased all at the same time. "He…likes me?"

"Yup!" Now Road started to look serious. "Now, do you like him? 'Cause I don't want his heart to get broken and all."

Lenalee's face colored. "Of course I like him! I—" She stopped herself just in time and colored even further. "You—you aren't going to tell him, are you?"

Road looked satisfied and hugged her cloth-covered knees. "Of course not. As long as you don't tell him that you know that he likes you, okay? He gets really embarrassed about these kinds of things."

Lenalee smiled. "Sure."

The two girls smiled at each other, feeling as if they were finally connecting at last.

Lenalee gazed back out the window. Something had been nagging her since this morning. What David had said then, back when they had been fighting and David had just retorted to whatever she had snapped at him in her fury. "Hey, Road. Can I ask you something?"

Road looked quizzically at her. "Sure. What're you wondering about?"

"This morning, David and I were fighting—"

"Fighting?"

"Can I explain later?"

"Sure. Go on."

"David said…that he was only one part of a person and demon. And where's his twin? I remember that he had one, but I haven't seen him at all. Did something happen?"

Judging from Road's pained expression, Lenalee guessed that she had gotten the answer right. "What happened, Road?"

"Lenalee, I don't know if I can really tell you that. David will tell you when he's ready."

"Why?" Her fists curled into her dress. "Because he's afraid he'll hurt me?"

There was a pause. Then Road said softly, gently, "Because he's afraid of hurting himself."

Lenalee stared at her, eyes wide in confusion. "What?"

Road smirked slightly and giggled. "You'll see when he tells you." Then she scrambled back into her seat as they made another turn on the path, extending the way up into the mountain until they could see the towering form of the headquarters ahead of them.

---

David awoke to someone shaking his shoulder persistently. He rolled his head away and muttered, "Five more minutes."

"No can do, David. Get up or else we're screwed."

David's eyes flew open and he sat up. The door to the carriage was open, and the one who had shaken him awake was Tyki, long hair disheveled and pulled out of his ponytail—or ripped out of. In the background behind him, David could see two Level Ones and three Level Twos shooting and aiming for Lenalee and Lulu Bell, who were both being incredibly agile and dodging the attacks with precision. David, irrationally, felt a surge of pride at Lenalee and forced it back down.

"Right. Thanks, Tyki." He hopped out of the carriage, wincing at the numbness in his legs. Glancing over to the front of the carriage, he saw the ashy remains of the driver in the front seat. He winced.

"Excuse me?" Tyki sounded shocked. And slightly pleased at that. "Did I just hear you say 'thank you' to me?"

David scowled and popped his shoulder. "Maybe. Don't take it to heart though."

Tyki laughed. "I won't." The older man then raced back towards a Level One, a huge pinkish-white shaped shield forming on his arm and a similarly colored glow on his opposite hand. He clashed with the Level One, destroying it in an instant.

David felt a sense of pride and an I-told-you-so feeling in his chest. He had been right!

_In your face Road__!_

He managed to collect himself in time to jump back away from the place where he had been standing, a Level One Akuma bullet burying itself inside the Earth. Riding on the high his pride had just given him, he pulled his gun out of the holster, he pointed and shouted, "Blue Bomb!"

The next instant, a barrage of ice lodged itself into the Akuma's cannon. It glanced down at it, confused, and David took the chance to reload and pull the trigger again. "Red Bomb! Blazing Red Inferno!" And in only a matter of minutes the Akuma was incinerated and David blew on the slightly smoking gun. He smirked. "I think I'm starting to enjoy this."

A sudden noise came from behind him and he leapt out of the way, yelping as an Akuma bullet almost grazed his foot. "Holy—damn, give a guy some time to gloat, would you?"

"Like hell I would," the Level Two sneered, sending another barrage towards him.

Unfortunately for the Level Two (and for David, somewhat), Tyki Mikk just happened to be passing by and accidentally swept his shield right through the Akuma's torso, effectively killing it.

David swelled with rage. "Hey!" he screamed, pointing at Tyki in outrage. "That was my target, damn it!"

"Too bad! You snooze, you lose," Tyki laughed, swerving in midair to avoid the bullets directed at him. "Wow, this is fun."

"Damn it Tyki!"

---

Two hours later, the five Noah and one Exorcist arrived at the Order at last, panting from the long way up.

Tyki scowled and breathed out, practically collapsing on the ground under the weight of the bags. "Did you have to make me carry all the stuff?" They had pulled their bags out of the carriage, then pushed it down the hill and watched it careen into the abyss. Cyril had quietly mourned the loss while David whistled at the shards of gold and red left behind.

Road giggled weakly and looked at her uncle with a positively adorable look on her face. "Yes."

David groaned and leaned against a tree, chest heaving. Lenalee laughed at him. "David, please. It can't be that bad."

"I'm not…used to…running…this far," he wheezed, hacking slightly.

"Then get in shape!" She giggled and pulled him off playfully before going to the gate and calling, "Hello! Brother? This is Lenalee, calling in. I have guests to bring in as well."

A tiny screen flickered on in front of her, David pulling himself over and peering curiously over her shoulder at the tiny phenomenon. Lenalee suddenly became aware at the sheer proximity of the boy and flushed. Should she ask him now?

_He'll tell you when he's ready_, Road's voice echoed in her mind. So she pushed away the impulses as the screen finally switched on to life, tinted grayish-green in the lighting.

"Lenalee!" Komui bawled, practically hurling himself at the screen. "Lenalee, where have you been? You were only supposed to go out to get medical supplies for Allen and Kanda. What took you so lo—"

And then he saw David, his wide golden eyes peering curiously at the camera.

Lenalee quietly groaned inside.

"Hey, Lenalee," David asked, prodding the side of the screen slightly, smudging it. "What is this?"

"It's a screen, David." She laughed a little more, quietly seething inside as her brother (and his co-workers) stared at them in horror and awe. "Um, brother? Can we come in now?"

"L-Lenalee," Komui stammered out. "You're seeing a Noah?"

She winced. "A little?"

David flushed and turned to look at her in a mixture of horror, embarrassment, and pleasure. "We—we are?"

She elbowed him. "Go with it."

"But—but—"

"How are you not falling into fault?" Reever exclaimed, shoving Komui over roughly as he and Johnny took up the screen, staring at David with huge eyes. "He's a Noah! You're not supposed to fall in love with a Noah! That goes against every code of the Innocence that is possible!"

Her face then turned several shades of red, and she stammered out, "I—I never said that! Yet." She mumbled the last part under her breath before continuing, spying David's reddened expression now turning even darker. "But can you please let us all come in? We're tired, we've just been fighting off Akuma—"

"Wait, we?" Komui clambered back onto the screen, face serious. "Are you telling us that the Akuma are rebelling against the Noah and the Earl?"

"Yeah," David answered for her, butting in. His facial color had faded into a dark shade of pink. "And we really need to talk to you about it."

Komui stared. Lenalee stared. Reever and Johnny stared. Even Lulu Bell, Road, Cyril and Tyki stared at his intrusion.

He blinked, looking down at Lenalee's mortified expression. "What? It's the truth."

Lenalee looked pleadingly at Komui's image on the screen. "Please brother? We'll explain once we're inside."

Komui's brow furrowed, and Lenalee swore she saw David visibly pale next to her. "How many are there besides him?"

"Four. Don't worry brother, they're not here to attack or anything. Trust me."

And trust Lenalee Komui did, though his face still looked slightly doubtful. "All right gatekeeper!" he called. "Let them in."

---

"So, let me get this straight," Komui said, blinking his eyes in an attempt to stay awake without his coffee. It was almost midnight and the two of them (David and Lenalee) had just finished explaining what had happened. "You first met Lenalee at the ball a few weeks ago—"

"Actually, I met her about two years ago, on not so good terms."

"Right. Then, the Earl assigned you a mission to kill my Lenalee—"

"And others! Others too!" David piped in defensively. "It wasn't all my fault!"

"But eventually, you two got along so well in such a short amount of time that you have declared your mission null and void. And then you two found out about each other and discovered that the Noah could now destroy Akuma."

"Yeah, pretty much." David grinned, leaning back in his chair in an attempt to stay awake as well.

"Brother, we know it sounds a bit ridiculous, but it's the truth!" Lenalee defended David stoically.

"A bit?" Reever snorted. "Of course it sounds ridiculous Lenalee, not just a bit! Anything besides Innocence destroying an Akuma is impossible. Nothing like it has happened in history, not to mention the fact that the Akuma actually rebelled against the Noah and the Earl."

"The world is changing," Cyril cut in, sounding much more serious than before. "The Gods are moving to change the future."

Everyone turned to look at him in awe, and Cyril shrugged, eyes shining with amusement. "That's what the Earl said two years ago."

So Cyril remembered too. David made a mental note to himself reminding him that that man was not as stupid as he seemed.

---

There was a silence as Komui digested the information. Lenalee could practically see her brother's mind churning in thought. "He did, did he?" Komui placed his hands under his chin and leaned into the desk. "I hate to say this, but the Earl was right. The world is changing if these events have occurred." Pulling himself back up to his upright position, he called out behind him, "Reever!"

The man rushed forward, looking worried. "Yes, Supervisor?"

"Find a room for these people to stay in. Preferably an empty one. After all, we wouldn't want them to be attacked on their first night here."

"I want to stay with Lenalee!" Road called out, hand up in the air. "Lulu Bell can come too!"

Lenalee blinked, gazing at Road in bemusement. Had she been giving out the signal that Road was somehow her new best friend?

Well, maybe she had earlier. But now it was different! And Lulu Bell…well, she was kind of scary and stoic. Not to mention that she killed off half of the Order back then two years ago. Lenalee still hadn't quite gotten over that.

Komui, Reever, and Lulu Bell stared at Road as well.

Road pouted. "I just thought that Lenalee might be more comfortable with girls beside her instead of being all by herself."

"Well, Lenalee? It's your choice." Reever sounded shaken.

Lenalee pondered a few minutes before finally responding. "It's fine," she said, smiling tiredly at him. From the corner of her eye, she could see David breathing out slightly in relief—for what reason she didn't know, but she made a note to ask him later.

"Yes!" Road tackled Lenalee in a hug surprisingly strong for a girl with such a build as hers. "Hey, while we're there, can I play with your hair? Pretty please?"

"O—okay," Lenalee stammered. "That's fine, Road."

"Yes!"

From what Lenalee could see with her peripheral vision, Lulu Bell was trying to stop herself from either smirking or laughing. It was probably the former, as Lulu Bell really didn't seem the type to laugh. At all. And David? David just looked like he was going to burst into laughter at any minute.

She scowled, then sighed. It was going to be a long night.


	6. And so they discover

This chapter was very hard to pull out. Very hard to imagine, very hard to create. But I still managed something, right? Even though most of it is David-centric, explanation of Jasdero's 'death', their past and plot twisting.

The ending...I wasn't really expecting that, but it made me write it anyways. Mostly it was because this story had me thinking of revolution and new beginnings so I thought, why not create a new God matter that chooses the Noah instead of the Exorcists? I know, a bit cliche and mary-sue, but I had fun writing the description anyways. Just to be clear, the cube will kind of have Innocence, Noah, and unique qualities all at the same time.

Enjoy to the best! Give advice! Give me the new God Matter name, because I can't think of anything for it! Give me the specific name of the new God Matter installed in you-know-who (ha ha, Voldemort joke) because I can't think of anything for that either (though I'll think of an ability on my own)!

* * *

"How do you think the girl's are doing?" Cyril said again, for at least the fifth time that night. Tyki groaned and shifted over in his bunk, springs squeaking slightly as his weight moved. David quietly seethed and pulled his pillow over his head. Make the man shut up already!

It had been a few hours since the three of them had been lead to their rooms. Each of them had been lying in their bunks for hours, listening to the wind outside and Cyril's insistent question repeating itself over and over again. Frankly, it was getting quite annoying, and both of the younger men in the room would really like it to stop, thank you very much.

"Shut up Cyril. They're doing fine." That was Tyki, definitely Tyki. No one else would sound that grumpy at three o'clock in the morning. David really didn't blame him. He wasn't feeling too great himself at the moment either.

"But you don't know that! Something could be wrong without us even knowing it. What if an Akuma comes in and tries to kill them while our backs are turned?"

"With what? All three of them are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, Cyril. An Akuma is not going to make much of a difference to them. So there's no point in worrying about it like a maniac." David could hear Tyki pulling the quilt fully over his head and curling up like a cat. He probably got that from being a stupid vagabond, David thought, snickering silently. "So shut up and go to sleep so that I can sleep. Honestly, I don't know how I am even related to you in the first place."

Cyril still sounded agitated. David chewed his lip in irritation as the oldest of the men continuously began shifting his arms around in the bed as a sign of his worry. He waited as patiently as he could for Tyki to wake up and get Cyril to stop being so irritating.

Apparently, Tyki couldn't hear Cyril anymore, as he was already sound asleep, chest rising and falling in a slow pattern that rivaled a cat's.

Oh, hell no.

"Son," Cyril whispered, leaning over the bunk and peering down at him.

David repressed a scream. Without Cyril's hair tied up, it was now falling around his head like a dark, flowing cloud, and good God it made him look scary (scarier than usual, really). In addition, his Noah eyes were activated as they could see better than their normal human eyes could, and the gold was glinting in the poor lighting with a fervor that would have frightened the toughest of men.

So it was all that David could do from choking out a horrified yell at the monstrous sight. "Wh—what the hell is it?" he gasped wheezily, glancing at Tyki to see if he was going to wake up at the commotion. He didn't. David cursed his lazy, sleepy ass. "And I'm not your kid!"

"Son, go check on the girls." Cyril ignored his futile attempts at denying blood relation and continued to stare un-relentlessly at him. It gave David a sense of foreboding that he wasn't particularly enjoying at all.

"Why?" David hissed, covering his unease with his annoyed tone. "Just so you can satisfy your own curiosity? I don't think so." He brought the covers up more firmly so that they were now resting under his chin.

"Please? They could be getting into trouble."

David snorted loud enough for Tyki to hear in his far away sleep. The man rolled over a bit, exposing a bit of his backside. David smirked. The guy was so stupid. "Cyril—"

"Father."

"No! Cyril, they're probably fine. The most trouble they could get in to now is if they catch their hair in a ribbon too tight or something. I don't know. Now please go to sleep."

"Son."

"What?" David temporarily forgot to deny his blood relation as the annoyance crept over instead. "What is it now?"

"If you go over there, I'll make you omelets with all the egg still intact."

What? "What?"

"You heard me. Beautiful omelets, warm omelets, fresh omelets, yummy, yummy omelets with fresh eggs, with a siding of anything you want."

David's mouth watered, the action promptly reminding him that he hadn't eaten at all today. He then shook himself out of his daze, reminding himself that Cyril could be very manipulative when he wanted to be and burrowed deeper into the quilt, hiding the bottom part of his face.

Cyril smirked and dropped the final bomb. "And they'll all be for you."

A few moments passed. David got out of the quilt and stared up at the now leering face of his 'father'. "How many omelets are we talking here?"

Cyril smiled. His eyes gleamed uncharacteristically. "The minimum's one."

David stared.

---

Lenalee stared at the woman in front of her, in a limbo of whether to laugh or not at the sight. Lulu Bell's hair was tied in several gaudy pink ribbons, as well as some purple ones. Judging from her expression, pink was not her favorite color. Nor was purple.

Road giggled conspiratorially and pulled some more blue ribbons into Lenalee's hair. "Isn't this fun?"

Lulu Bell finally looked at Lenalee. A silent message passed between them. _We should get out of here._

But they couldn't. And Lenalee knew they were both doomed to being drowned in lacy ribbons by the oldest Noah who was acting like a little girl all over again.

She sighed and concentrated on the feeling of Road's fingers pulling through her tangled hair and on her scalp. It was actually rather soothing, and she felt herself growing more tired than ever today, reminding her about just how little sleep she had had so far.

"I suppose it is fun," Lulu Bell said, spotting the scowl forming itself on Road's face and quickly attempted to stop it.

Road giggled again, scowl vanishing, and took her hands out of Lenalee's black hair. "Done!"

Lenalee sagged with relief, opening her eyes. She then turned towards the door, mind fully intent on gathering a mirror and pulling out everything that Road had put in her hair. "We should probably go to—"

The door opened, and they all glanced up at the person coming in.

"D—David?" Lenalee stammered. She was trying her hardest not to glance at his bare chest now practically glaring at her from the doorway. "Wh—what are you don't in here?"

He smirked and leaned against the wall. "Coming to check in on you guys. What else?"

Road scowled and crossed her arms in sassiness. "Cyril bribed you, didn't he?"

His smirk promptly vanished and he scowled right back at her. "Maybe," he muttered sullenly, sitting with his knees propped up high next to his chest. "Anyways, what's with all the ribbons? You getting ready for a party or something?" His smirk looked ready to return when he looked at Lulu Bell's attire. Lenalee silently prayed that he wouldn't look at her.

He did. His eyes widened slightly and he flushed, promptly looking away.

Her heart plummeted to her stomach. Did she look that bad?

Road, thankfully, dropped in her answer at the last minute. "No. This is girl stuff. You're a boy, so you wouldn't understand." Then, she smirked a smirk that was almost as devious as David's. "Unless, of course, you've done this before."

His expression turned a shade of red that was so odd and adorable at the same time that Lenalee looked about ready to laugh. "No! Of course not! I'm a boy, you little—" He struggled with himself for a few more minutes before finishing his sentence. "Well, I'm a boy, so I don't do those things. So there!"

Road laughed. "You've used make-up before, so why not ribbons? You have done it before, haven't you? Admit it!" She pointed at his expression and continued to laugh while his face started to flush even further. "Admit it, admit it!"

"I never have!"

"If you never have, why are you blushing?" The little girl taunted. Lenalee suppressed a smile threatening to form on her lips. Lulu Bell remained silent throughout the whole banter, instead using the time wisely to pull out the ribbons in her hair. They fluttered to the ground like colorful butterflies dancing in the wind and Lenalee watched them, enraptured by the sheer simplicity of their own poetry before turning back to the argument taking place.

"Because it's stupid for you to even ask!" David retorted.

"Come on, it's so obvious! What, was it a passing habit?"

"Road, I've never done those things before and you know it!"

"Well I know that you did something that involved ribbons!"

David growled and shut his mouth, not even daring to look at Lenalee. Lenalee felt a bit miserable. It wasn't all that bad. She didn't really mind if he had used ribbons in the past—after all, she had seen Kanda once use ribbons in his hair (although, she had to admit, that had been disturbing. Very disturbing, in fact).

Road giggled and held out a bunch of black and gold ribbons towards him. She wiggled them in front of his nose teasingly. "Come on, you know you want to."

"No I don't!" David yelled and scrambled backwards and away from the offending accessories. "Jeez Road, what's your problem?"

"My problem is that you won't—"

The door flew open again, hitting David in the middle of his back and head. He tumbled forward, cursing loudly and angrily before turning tearfully to see just who it was that had just brutally hurt him.

"Hey," a familiar voice said. "Is everything all right? We heard screaming and—"

Lenalee paled. David paled. Hell, everyone in the room paled, especially the two people standing in the doorway in their sleeping attire.

Lavi looked nervous, still holding the door edge and glanced back at Krory, who could only stare at David with a look akin to complete and utter shock.

---

David stared at the exorcist in the doorway, his mind slowly attempting to work itself out in the process.

It was the vampire. The exorcist vampire. The very vampire that had driven Jasdero to death and escape in David's own body, who had given him an injury so bad that he could barely even use that appendage anymore without searing pain. The vampire who was then, and still was, a monster and murderer.

The man looked almost terrified. "A—ah," he stuttered nervously, twisting his sleeve in his fingers. He looked like he was going to say more, but he stopped and didn't, instead deciding to shut up and stand very, very still.

Rage burst inside his chest, blossoming huge red flowers as his mind went blank. At his first instinct, he lunged forward for the man's throat. His fingers barely brushed the man's Adam's Apple before he was tugged backward by Lulu Bell, all her ribbons now successfully out of her hair. She glared at him reproachfully from above, her face tense and stern as ever.

Road was only staring at them both, her little body tense and wary of the outcome of the situation. Her eyes began to flicker between the boundary of blue and gold, and her skin darkened and lightened with each little lunge that David made for the man's throat. Not that he saw all of this. He was much too preoccupied with attempting to murder the man in front of him for his brother.

He had been waiting for this for so long that he could taste the burning desire on his tongue. The desire to kill, the desire to murder this man who slew his brethren, who injected them both with the Innocence virus was burning inside him. Nothing was going to stop him now. Absolutely nothing.

"David!"

Except maybe that. Swiveling his head around, he turned to find Lenalee standing up from her sitting position, eyes indignant and flaring. Through the haze in his mind, he could hear his inner voice remark on how nicely the ribbons were floating around her face. "David, stop!"

He snarled back, an automatic reflex not quite gone from his old days. "Why should I? This guy—" He struggled for words before finally shouting out, almost screaming with frustration and old rage bursting out in a final stand. "This guy killed Jasdero! Why should I stop, huh, Lenalee! Answer that for me!"

The room became still. Lavi and Krory momentarily became forgotten as Lenalee and David stared at each other, both of them feeling wronged and angry and (in Lenalee's case) a bit frightened of what might the other say next.

Lenalee looked about ready to have either a seizure or a shouting session with him. David couldn't help but feel a bit stung. The stupid vampire had attacked him two years ago, right? That gave him rights to attacking him back, no matter what the day or year. Those were the rules of battle.

"David," Lenalee managed to get out. "David, you're now in a treaty with us, the Black Order. It won't do much good if you attacked him now." Her eyes were flaring, just daring him to contradict her.

He couldn't. Finally relaxing only slightly, he loosened out of Lulu Bell's grip and stormed out of the room, knocking past the redhead and the vampire and down the hall. He just needed to get out of there. He didn't care what Lenalee had said. He didn't care that Lenalee had just reprimanded his actions, those words she had just said stinging more than he had thought it would.

He didn't care at all.

Stomping down the hall and ignoring the openings of multiple doors and whisperers, he eventually found a room and locked it, sighing and leaning against the bare doorframe. Growling, he punched the door in frustration, sending a small shudder throughout the wood.

Damn it, what was wrong with her? He could attack that stupid vampire, so what? It shouldn't matter to her what he did. It shouldn't have, because that guy was a monster. He needed to be dealt with. He needed to be killed.

_You say that I'm a monster, but what about you? Haven't you been treated similarly in the past?_

David growled, louder this time and clamped his hand over his ears. He slid to the floor, banging his head against the door. The noise reverberated inside his skull, the vibrations shuddering his body violently. "Get out!" he hissed. "I don't need you telling me what I did wrong and what I didn't do wrong."

_Haven't you been treated similarly in the past?_

"Yes I have you stupid vampire!" he shouted in the darkness. "We have and he was and god damn it, I don't need your life lesson. Get out, get out, get the hell out!" He slammed his head against the door one last time before he heard a faint splintering in the wood. He stopped, looked back at the damage done. There was now a small crater where his head had smacked in, splinters peeling off and dropping to the floor.

David cursed and stood up, pacing around the dark room in anger and frustration. It just wasn't fair! Just because he was different, just because they were different didn't mean that they had to be treated like that, like a bunch of hypocrites! It just wasn't fair! And it wasn't fair for Lenalee to treat them like that either!

_Wait, wait,_ the voice said, interrupting his rampage. _What do you mean 'us' David? Are you trying to insinuate Jasdero's still alive?  
_

"He is!" David growled, and clenched his head so hard that he felt a little dizzy when he let go. "He's inside of me, isn't he? In my left arm." He looked down at the arm, watching it stay loose and limp in the dim lighting. "The Earl saved us by doing that. So really, he's still alive."

_He's not David, and you know it. David, by doing that the Earl practically made you into a living Akuma. The theory, the method, hell the idea was practically the same. The Earl maybe didn't mean for it to be that way, but it was. Jasdero's a dead soul now. His body's a parasite inside ours, just staying here inside us, living and feeding off of our body. We're a half human, half demon, not really either anymore. You know it's true._

"It's not."

_Why are you being so stubborn about this?_ The voice sounded frustrated. _He's dead. We saw him die David, right before—_

"He's not dead!" David took in a shaky breath and sank back down to the floor on his knees, gritting his teeth soundlessly. "Damn it, I know I thought he was too, but now I'm not so sure anymore. Two nights ago, when Lenalee and I were dancing on the floor—don't you remember? There was a voice. It was telling me not to forget about it, never to forget." He gulped in a few more breaths of air, panting slightly from his pacing. "I think that was Jasdero. He's not fully dead yet."

The voice was silent.

David didn't wait for it to come back and stormed around the room, looking for anything to distract himself with.

Two seconds later, he promptly tripped over a box and fell flat over his face. Cursing, he looked back, wincing at the tear now in his pants. "Shit," he swore, sitting up straight and looking back at the object in question. "Why the hell do I keep tripping over things? It's not—"

He stopped.

In front of him, unlike what he had originally thought was a box, was not a box. It was, instead, a cube, colorfully decorated with stars, blue and black shading over the sides in a pretty pattern. He squinted at it, picked it up and turned it over in his hand, gazing at the pattern with an unnerving concentration.

_The pattern_, he thought blearily, _looks a lot like stars on a sky._

_Isn't it pretty, Jasdevi?_

He started, dropped the cube. He let it clatter to the floor as he breathed heavily, sweat beading on his forehead and clasping his hand to his mouth.

"No—" he choked out, practically retching. "No, I don't want to remember you now."

_It's pretty, right? This is so pretty._ The woman's voice laughed softly, her voice echoing in his head. _Thank you for finding it for me, Jasdevi. You are such a good boy. Such—_

"No!"

_A wonderful—_

"Stop!"

_Son._

He clawed at his head in anger, in frustration. "Get out! You and that vampire get out!" David growled, half in anger and half in surprise at the fact that his human side, not his Noah was coming out at the moment. "You abandoned us. You left us to die there. You have no right to call me your son."

David knew it wasn't particularly rational to be yelling at a dead woman, but he couldn't help it. Ever since then, so many years ago, he had wanted to ask his mother about why she let their father kick them out. Why had she just let their father take them away, put them somewhere their bodies would never be found and let him attempt to shoot their heads in?

Of course it hadn't worked because fortunately their Noah had activated right before that, but their father would never have done it if she had objected.

She hadn't.

In essence, she had abandoned them for death.

_And you have the nerve to come back in my head?_

The voice still wasn't saying anything, merely keeping silent. David wished that it would speak up already. That way, he wouldn't have to feel this idiotic and angry.

Damn it!

He glanced back at the cube. It was sitting quite upright on the wooden floor, softly glowing with the white paint and black and blue behind it. Somehow, even though it had brought back painful memories to him, it was still comforting, almost a sign of peace.

David stared at it for a few moments, and it seemed to stare right back underneath his gaze.

He reached out and picked up the cube, clutching it to his chest. Strangely, it gave off a sense of warmth, of happiness that he couldn't explain. Involuntarily, his hand slid down to his left arm, resting the cube on the upper part.

David only stared at it, bemused. It seemed as if the cube, still glowing faintly, was trying to tell him to do something. What do you want? He asked. What do you want me to do now?

A little shudder came from the cube, and a little probing in the back of his head emerged. Accept me, it whispered, accept me, trust me, love me, and let me in.

David stared at it. He knew that this was definitely not just an ordinary cube—he would have to be a complete idiot not to know that. But he also knew that this was not Innocence. No matter if the Noah and Exorcists were getting along, Noah would still be injured by the Innocence. So this was an entirely new kind of matter all together.

It was safe.

And so David did. Closing his eyes, he let the cube seemingly breathe and cool down. The touch of its smooth surface vanished and David opened his eyes, staring at the empty space where the cube had once been. He blinked a few times, making sure his eyesight wasn't failing him before the look of his arm make him glance sharply at it.

The bandages from his arm seemingly disappeared into thin air. The Innocence from the vampire slowly began to rise and merge with the blue and black of the cube, white and gray floating together. Blue and black rose and turned to face him, a little pair of wings sprouting from its back and a circle of crosses in its center. David only stared at it, unnerved and bewildered.

Its tiny wings fluttered at him in wondering and curiosity. Slowly, acting from an instinct inside his mind telling him to do so, he cupped his right hand and held it out to it, letting it use it as a leverage to soar up and rest on the base of his neck. It fluttered its wings once, twice before melding into his neck.

Pain and shock flooded throughout his spine and he cried out. His Noah form appeared, vanished, appeared, vanished before appearing once again, the black crosses peeling off and facing him before soaring down towards his chest. It seared inside, melding with his bones and blood as the cube was doing, mimicking the body's new host and finally wielding inside him.

The pain wasn't stopping all that soon and David writhed on the floor, clutching his neck with his hands and screaming hoarsely in the dark.

He could hear absolutely nothing as his mind slowly went blank.


	7. And so they dream

It's finally here, after almost two months of waiting.

All right, so here's the deal on this chapter. I introduce a few new evolutions (but you have to find out how and what they are, because I'm not telling until maybe one, two chapters from now), some original characters (I have sunken so far--I don't usually make original characters at all), and a new point of view. That's about it.

Give me advice, because now more than ever I need it. I'm still really rusty and life is distracting me, so I definitely need as much advice as I can get. However, I don't want any 'WTF, this is so stupid' kind of advice, because that's not really advice at all, that's just flaming. I hate flaming and flamers, so go shoo, evil flamer.

You're also free to ask questions because I know I wasn't really clear on some parts of the story. I apologize.

Try to enjoy, please!

* * *

Lenalee sometimes (actually, not sometimes but a lot of the time) wondered why boys were so stupid. Why did they always have to find a reason to get in a fight? Why did they always have to find a reason to—to—to be so selfish and crude? It wasn't fair for the nice girls who were near them who worried about them so much that sometimes they woke up in the middle of the night wondering if they were all right and safe. It just wasn't.

She conveyed her troubles to a strangely listening Lulu Bell as the older woman pulled out the ribbons from Lenalee's hair. The rest of the people that had been in the room had all gone out to get something to eat and (in Lavi's case) comfort a rather shaken Krory. It was just the two women now, sitting cross-legged on the floor and pulling out ribbons from their hair.

"I mean," she said rather fiercely as she felt her elder pull out the ribbons delicately, "What goes on in their heads? What is up there, besides 'I want to fight' and 'I want to flirt with girls'? What else is in there? Really."

"Your information isn't quite accurate," Lulu Bell interrupted, pulling out another particularly long ribbon. Lenalee wondered how Road had even gotten those ribbons in the first place. "They also think about work; not to mention sex," she added after a slight pause.

Lenalee made a little face and giggled. "That's not too comforting. Or sanitary."

She could feel the woman's high tension relax slightly at her comment. "It wasn't meant to be—it is the truth. Most men only think about those things, though there are many exceptions." Another ribbon fluttered to the ground, shimmering in the mixture of the room's lighting and the moonlight peeking in through the window.

Lenalee nodded slightly. "I know. It's just that the majority…" She waved her hand through the air aimlessly. "Well. You know what I mean." She then scowled as she remembered reluctantly how David had looked when he had seen Krory.

Golden eyes widening, mouth parting just slightly, teeth grinding together, rage pouring out from every pore in his body, muscles tightening, clenching, left arm glowing with the contact from its user after two long years, hair standing on end, feet scrambling across the floor and hand (tipped with black, always pure black, just like a demon's) outstretched towards Krory's throat—

She blinked and the image was gone.

Thank God.

"Of course the majority is like that. Lenalee—" She started at the use of her name. Lulu Bell ignored this. "You must think. David is tired. He has been tired ever since we got here, and Cyril forcing him to come here does not help things. He was probably not thinking clearly. Besides—" Here, she looped out a knot from the ribbon by Lenalee's left temple. "You know that he is not on good terms with that Exorcist."

"Still…"

"I will make him apologize in the morning, if the majority wishes so."

Lenalee smiled faintly at the thought. "That probably won't be necessary, Lulu Bell, though the thought is rather entertaining." _I'll deal with him myself_, she told herself after saying this.

They remained in silence for a while after that, the only sounds around them coming from the ribbons untwining from her hair and people moving outside their door.

"Where do you think he went?" Lenalee finally asked.

Lulu Bell didn't respond at first, choosing to pull out one more ribbon for stalling. "I suppose he went off to sulk," she said. Lenalee could feel the heaviness in her arms, how they felt tired and worn. She suddenly wondered how old Lulu Bell and the others really were. Decades? Centuries? Millenniums? "David is like a child, even now. You must remember that and be patient with him."

"It's hard to," Lenalee whispered, and felt just the slightest hint of sadness descend upon her heart.

Lulu Bell's aura somehow grew just a bit warmer. "I am sure that you will manage."

---

_The space around him is dark. Probing his fingers around him, he can feel nothing surrounding him. His arms, legs, everything feel numb and heavy. He can hear nothing either._

_There is no terror, however, and he swivels his head around slowly. He finds no light anywhere. Absolutely nothing._

_He takes a little comfort in this, and feels a strange feeling of content rest inside him. Perhaps he could stay here forever. What was his name in the outside world again? He couldn't remember._

Wait.

_He listens carefully, and is proven correct. There are three pairs of footsteps coming towards him, and he turns in their direction, slowly and dreamlike._

_However, only two figures soon emerge from the darkness. He recognizes one as his Bond, with the words tattooed on its pale arms and stigmata etched deeply into its neck. He doesn't recognize the other, though it is vaguely familiar. Its starry black eyes, deep and penetrating, gaze at him, and locks of silver hair_ (just like the stars themselves, woven into silk)_ fall down its shoulders to rest just below them._

"_David," the unfamiliar one says._

_The name strikes a cord of familiarity inside, and he remembers that he was called David on the outside world. Yes, that was his name. He was sure of it now._

"_Do you know who I am, David?"_

_He shakes his head no. The familiarity is still there, hanging by a thread and tightening._

_The being smiles almost condescendingly, almost lovingly at him. "You will find out sooner or later."_

"_Tell me." His voice echoes everywhere, bouncing and jangling and fading away into the dark. "Tell me." The second time is more forceful, pushing for answers. "Tell me who you are. Tell me—"_

"_Tell me why you have forgotten me." The voice is paper on glass, hanging by tiny silver strings. It is frail, broken in too many places and saddened by age and pitiful, too pitiful to even stand._

_He turns._

_Another figure is there, right behind him. Its feet are bare against the glowing-black floor, gray and chipped and scratched beyond repair. Soiled bandages are around its feet and arms, draped and going round and round. Black nails are bitten and chewed to the nub on some, while others are incredibly long and pointed. Golden hair _(and this is what really makes David frightened) _is_ _circled around its waist, dirty and yet still shining like a beacon._

"_Tell me why you have forgotten Jasdero."_

_Hands reach up and claw at his face as he screams._

---

David remembered that once when he and Jasdero were one whole person, his father and mother and taken them to the fair that just came in to town. He remembered holding their hands tightly, one huge hand (back then, when everything was huge) in each of his little ones, and smiling all the way while walking on the dusty road.

He remembered the swirling colors, the screams of the other children, the laughter. It was dazzling. Absolutely beautiful. He wanted to share this with his—their mother, because she was the really artistic one. She would understand how they were feeling right now, the awe, the exhilaration.

However, when they turned around to say, "Mommy, Mommy, look! Isn't it pretty," the two of them were gone. They had vanished into the crowd and left them alone.

Now, when David thought back on it, even in a thick cloud of unconsciousness and terror, he wondered how they couldn't have seen it then. How they couldn't have seen that that was intentional, that they wanted to leave him there and never take him back, even though they had smiled (too tightly, he now realized, too tense, too unhappily) and thanked one of the officers hanging around the area who had found them wandering around crying for his parents. How couldn't they have seen that?

"_It was because we were too naïve," Jasdero says quietly, still staring at his other half as he clawed at his face in terror. "It was because we didn't even consider being abandoned by the ones we loved the most. It was because we still wanted to be loved, no matter how much they hated us." He smiles, and David can feel nostalgia _(fear, regret, pain)_ rise up and up and up until it begins to cloud his vision over into a pretty blue. "Isn't that right?"_

"_I thought that you were dead," he chokes out, breathing heavily _(how he could breathe in here? Wasn't this a dream or something?). _"No, wait, wrong choice of words—suppressed. So why are you here?"_

_Jasdero is silent for a few moments before beginning to walk towards his other half._

(He notices that he hasn't changed since he fell off the ledge and into the dark of Noah's depths, and that makes him feel even worse, makes him feel guilty for letting him die. Seeing him is like seeing his sins and nightmares and wonderful dreams in a cracking mirror, and it makes him want to scream all over again.)

_He comes to a stop in front of him, staring up at him dead on. Then, he smiles and reaches up, brushing away a few black hairs that have fallen on his face. David shivers. The touch feels so real that he fantasizes for only the briefest of seconds that Jasdero was still a living, breathing being._

_The fantasy breaks after Jasdero speaks again. "You've grown a lot," he says, seemingly deep in thought at this discovery. "I always imagined us always being incredibly short, you know? Tall just didn't seem like the right description for us." He laughs a bit, pulls back another few hairs before David himself speaks._

"_Answer my question, Jasdero." He thanks whoever is in charge of the dream world that his voice isn't shaking._

_Jasdero's smile turns just a bit darker. "You always were impatient, Davie." He practically spits the old nickname in his face, the stitches twisting and snarling around his mouth._

_David flinches and pulls away from his touch. This spirit is not the same as his younger half, he thinks warily. This being is not his other half anymore if the boy had the gall to actually snap at him. The old Jasdero would never do that at all._

_The being laughs, high and cold and so unlike Jasdero's old carefree laugh. "You're right, Davie. I'm not Jasdero anymore." He giggles a few more times before looking up at him. The golden eyes are amused, sparkling with genuine interest and cold anger. _

"_I changed after I 'died,' Davie. I went to the spirit world and was greeted by three spirits. One was Noah himself. Another was the exorcist's God. The last one—" He shudders before continuing. "The last one was the Devil. David, I saw the Devil there, standing there and smiling like there was no tomorrow, and he—he—he grabbed my wrist and began pulling me towards these huge black gates."_

_He mimes a sort of twisted motion along his wrist and traces the bandages along his arms._

"_I asked what he was doing, where he was taking me. He told me that he was taking me to Hell. He told me he was going to take me to Hell for what we did, Davie, and that after you died too he would separate us forever."_

_David can't move, only stare in horror at this—this thing, this thing taking up where Jasdero used to be. Jasdero wouldn't speak like this. Jasdero wouldn't look like this, so bitter and angry at everything._

"_I know what you're thinking. I'm not a 'thing,' David." Jasdero's voice is quiet at first; then, it begins to shriek as he raves at him. "I'm not a thing! I'm still your brother! I'm not a dead thing! I'm not!" His eyes are wide as he reaches out his hands towards him. "I'm still here! I'm still your brother! I'm still Jasdero!" His face is twisting and twisting and morphing into something David can't even describe._

_He feels the two spirits vanish behind him, and the fear continues to grow and grow until it's consuming him._

"_Don't forget about me!"_

---

"Ow!"

David scrambled out from under the dusty table, groaning and rubbing his head. Already he could feel a small bump rising at the back. Lovely. "What the hell—where am I, damn it?"

As reality slowly came back, he began to remember what had happened before he woke up. He winced. Oh yeah. He had freaked out, attacked the vampire Exorcist, yelled at Lenalee, stomped over into the closet, just absorbed a new type of matter, and had the worst nightmare in the history of nightmares. Fantastic.

He shook off afterimages of the raving spirit he had just met and focused back on the present.

Also, his arm was aching like there was no tomorrow and he mumbled an, "I hate life" under his breath before twisting his head to look at it.

The pit of his stomach promptly dropped onto the floor.

It wasn't that his arm looked any better than it had before. It didn't. Actually, it looked worse because now, it had black and white markings tracing all the way up to his shoulders. Then they broke off in another branch and nonchalantly made their way down to the front of his chest, printing an imitation of the Noah's stigmata across the gray skin.

He craned his neck further to find that they extended all the way to the base of his neck and traveled all the way down to the mid-back. At the back, he found, it seemed to gain a pattern, showing two crosses, one black, one white, intersecting at each of their middles.

_It shows the collaboration of two Gods_, he realized with a start. _These markings show a start of a new age._

_Well, duh_, the voice sounded sarcastically in his head. _This has been mentioned a few times. New age, new era, new light of the world—_

"Okay, now you're pushing it," David growled.

_Hey, take it easy, Mr. Cranky_, the voice chuckled. _Wouldn't want to mess with your 'new-age' arm, would you?_

David imagined dissecting the voice into little tiny squares.

_Ouch_, it snorted, still chuckling slightly. _Touchy, are we?_

"No shit. Now shut up. I'm getting out of here and finding something to eat. I'm starving." He pushed himself to his feet and began to head for the door.

_Are you sure that you want everyone staring at you, now that you've got all these things on your chest? Especially Lenalee. Think about how freaked she'll be if she sees you like this._

David stopped in his tracks. The voice had a point.

_I do, don't I?_

He spun back around and spotted a sheet conveniently placed next to him. Snatching it up, he draped it around his shoulders and turned towards the door. Fiddling with the knob for a few minutes, he pushed open the door and stepped out into the light.

He became temporarily blind for just a few moments before he shook off the spots dancing around in his eyes. Turning on his heel, he began to stride down the hall, the sheet flowing out behind him like a white cape.

"David!"

He felt fury as a giggling Road, who hopped onto his back from behind and wrapped her small, but surprisingly strong arms around his neck, foiled his escape plan.

"David, where have you been?" she scolded, promptly changing her tone from light to serious. "Why are you wearing a sheet? I've been looking everywhere for you. Cyril and Tyki said that you hadn't come back to the room at all, and Lulu Bell said that you didn't come back either, so I was really worried. Also, I want you to apologize to Krory and Lenalee! You were really mean, so—"

She stopped and twisted her neck around so that the corner of her eye was able to see him. David desperately tried to shift up the sheet again and failed. How much did this girl weigh, anyway?

"Is something wrong, David?" She scowled. "You aren't yelling back."

"No," he grumbled, and continued walking as fast as he could.

"Liar! There is something wrong! And I bet it has something to do with this sheet too, right?" Road's scowl deepened and she clutched the sheet, sliding down with it in her grasp.

"Road—" David attempted to snatch the sheet back before it exposed his extremely altered body.

Too late.

---

"Sirs!" A Level Two Akuma went on one knee, clasping its metal fist over its chest. Two figures turned towards him. "We have received reports from the Akuma stationed outside the Black Order that there has been a disturbance in the force."

A dark figure from in front of it snickered. The other dark, smaller figure sighed and said, "Level Two, please refrain from making puns on old sayings. It's unseemly, and it entertains my companion here far too much."

"Hey, hey, let 'im," the other one snickered, waving a thin, bony hand from the side. "It's a hell of a lot better than seeing things get smashed up. Continue, Level Two."

"As you wish, Sir. A former master of ours, Lord Jasdevi—"

"I thought Jasdevi died," the softer one said, musingly.

"Nah, just one half of him. The other survived. Go on, Level Two."

"Lord Jasdevi's surviving half, Lord David, has acquired a new type of matter, we believe."

"A new type of matter?" the smaller one said, inhaling just a bit. "Have you defined from what origin it is from?"

"No sir, we haven't. However, it is evident that some forces unseen are working together to form this new creation." The Level Two looked nervous, fiddling a little bit with its metal skin on its 'hand' before finally concluding, "That's all they managed to find out, Sirs."

The larger, bony figure put its finger to his chin. "Huh. A new evolutionary creation." It snickered a bit. "Kind of like us, huh, Adam?"

The smaller one sighed and stepped out into the light.

The Level Two blinked and attempted to find anything wrong with its vision. It couldn't be possible, what he was seeing. It just couldn't.

The figure named Adam appeared to be—in every sense—human. The Level Two could literally hear the heart pumping once Adam got closer, could smell the blood flowing through his—at least, the Level Two thought Adam was a he—veins. Large brown eyes gazed down at Level Two serenely. Dark brown hair, snipped away at mid-neck, fell around his pale face with a sort of beautiful gesture.

_But this being wasn't human_, the Level Two realized in terror. _And the other one—_

"Yeah, we're not human, Level Two," the other figure laughed, also stepping into the light. "We thought that was obvious."

This one, the Level Two observed, also appeared to be human. Green eyes were framed dramatically by black, and his black hair was shorter than Adam's, though it also framed his pale face.

"What are you?" the Level Two squeaked out.

The unnamed one snickered and patted the Level Two's head. "Hey, hey, don't get your metal panties in a bunch. We're still Akuma, just on a higher level. We can project the image, sound, scent, pretty much everything an Akuma can do to ward off suspicion from Exorcists." He smirked, and the Level Two felt a very distinct sense of fear cloud his mind. "That pretty much why we're the leaders of this revolution and not you guys."

"Don't provoke it, Brant," Adam spoke. "No matter if it's a lower level of Akuma, there is still a high chance of it attacking you."

Brant smirked. "Yeah, right. If it does that, I'll just tear it down." He turned back to the Level Two, who was paralyzed. "You got that, Level Two? You or any of your little Akuma buddies do anything to disobey us, we'll rip off your heads and put them on stakes in our front yard as examples." He grinned, and the whites of his eyes darkened into black. "Got it?"

Level Two nodded fervently.

"Good. Now run along and go manage yourselves."

Level Two managed to recollect himself. "But sir, what should we do about Lord David?"

Adam sighed. "Leave it be for now. We will deal with this matter later."

The Level Two, eager to get out of there, bowed its head and leaped away into the night.

As it gathered itself and neared its campsite, the Level Two thought, _Well, if these are the Akuma leading us in this war, we have a very good chance of winning indeed._


	8. And so they fall

So. You want to know what's wrong with this chapter, do you?

Get ready for it.

_The drama. There's drama everywhere_. I kid you not. I feel this is turning in to a sappy soap opera or something.

But hey! You get some more David/Lenalee goodness inside this one! The last chapter just didn't have any. How sad.

Give advice, please, and enjoy!

(Oh, and this is a little something for the end of the chapter: No, they do not die. Of course not. They are my main characters. It'd be pretty pointless to kill them off.

You'll see what happens.)

* * *

Sometimes David wondered why he had agreed to go with the stupid 'Road is my little sister' façade in the first place. It was just that no matter what he did, whenever he did, he never got any benefit from the stupid act. Never.

Especially now.

Sitting in a stiff-backed chair with his legs crossed, he glared at his supposed 'little sister' from across the room. Stupid Road. Stupid cube. Stupid Noah. Stupid Black Order.

_Will they stop staring at me already?_ He thought sullenly. _I'm not their stupid lab experiment._

"Fascinating," Komui said, rubbing his chin as he stared at David's new arm. "Truly fascinating."

_Yeah, you want to know what else is going to be fascinating? My foot going up in your ass. I don't care if you're Lenalee's brother. You're going to be in a shit-load of pain if you keep examining me like this._

"Sir, what kind of matter is it?" Reever asked, peering at the arm in scrutiny. "It is obviously not Innocence, but it is not one of the Noah genes, that's fairly certain."

_Touch me, buddy, and I'll show what's certain to happen to your face._

"You're right, Reever. I suppose that we can assume that it is a type of matter designed for Noah. We'll have to test its abilities soon, though." Komui took a sip of coffee from the ridiculous bunny mug he was holding in his other hand. "I wonder, though, what are the Gods planning?"

_Duh, it's obvious. It's a new weapon for the arising New Age—wait a second, what do you mean, 'test its—_

"Sorry we're late!"

David's heart stopped for the briefest of seconds before starting again at hyperactive speed.

Lenalee raced in through the doorway along with Lulu Bell, breathing rather heavily. David couldn't help but notice the way her hair was falling around her face, the way her eyes glinted in the light, her flushed face, her lips—

_Oh, come on_, the voice snorted_. I bet she's still really mad at you for what you did. Don't get caught up in your stupid teenage fantasies before finding out how she feels._

_What are you, my mother?_ David retorted.

_No, I'm your conscience, stupid, so shut up and listen to what they're saying already!_

David grudgingly obliged and tuned back in to the conversation in front of him.

"Well, Lenalee, it seems to be a matter designed for the Noah themselves. It's almost like Innocence, except not," Komui explained to his younger sister, taking another sip of coffee from the stupid mug. "We'll have to do some more research about it in the future."

Lenalee suddenly looked nervous. David noticed that her hands were starting to shake, and concern flooded into his conscience. He wanted to reach out, comfort her, but at the moment, he really just didn't know how to do that. "What do you mean by 'research', brother?"

Komui suddenly looked guilty. "Well—"

"Don't tell me you're going to perform more experiments with this matter!" Lenalee gasped.

Komui, reluctantly, nodded his head.

Lenalee looked thunderstruck. David felt panic. If Lenalee was reacting that badly to the 'experimentation' thing, how bad could these experiments be?

"Brother, you can't!" the girl almost shrieked, tears rising to her eyes. "Please, don't! We can just have him spar against me or someone else to see what it will do! Just please, don't make him go through that, please!"

David's heart twisted at her tearful face. He really didn't want to worry her, especially just after they had a fight.

"Lenalee," he spoke. Startled, she turned. Their eyes met each other and for a moment (no matter how cheesy it sounded) it seemed like they were the only two people left in the room. "Lenalee, I'll be fine. Don't worry."

"Don't worry!" she said, almost swelling with indignation. Inside, David cringed. Did he say something wrong? "Don't worry, when you'll be strapped to a table? Don't worry, when you'll be almost dead after these experiments are over?"

"Lenalee—"

"Don't you 'Lenalee' me, David!"

David shut up.

"The point is that I don't want to have to see you go through that, David." The tears finally spilled over onto her cheeks. Several people in the room looked away guiltily. Others shuffled around, their faces sad and understanding. "Please don't let them do this to you, David."

They looked at each other for a few more moments. The scientists looked at them, back and forth, back and forth, to see what would come out of this.

Finally, David said, "Fine. I won't. I agree with Lenalee."

As her face brightened, David felt the old sensation of blood rising to his cheeks. He had made her smile! He stopped her from crying!

Through his happiness, he could hear someone whisper, "Well, we see who certainly wears the pants in this relationship."

Quietly, in the corner of his elated mind, he vowed to later find who had said that and rip their intestines out. That is, if it was all right with Lenalee.

_It probably won't be_, the voice said.

_At this point, I don't care_, David replied blissfully.

The voice sighed. _Kid, you are _so_ over your head._

---

Brant gulped down the rest of the wine left from the cellar and slammed the empty bottle down on the table. "Great stuff, wine. Too bad it's a human drink." He grinned drunkenly, not really caring that his voice was slurring and his vision was blurring.

Adam sighed, pushing away his untouched glass that was offered to him by Brant. "You know if you keep drinking this concoction in large amounts, you will die." He raised a fine eyebrow at him sternly.

Brant waved a hand at his partner. "Hey, don't be such a sourpuss. Besides, this is the first bottle I've had since—"

"—last week?" Adam interrupted, smiling just faintly at his partner's now frowning face. "Brant, I think we both know you have to stop."

The black-haired Akuma snorted. "Yeah, yeah. I get it." He threw the bottle across the room and laughed as it shattered. "Man, I never get tired of that." Snapping his fingers, he beckoned for the level three sitting in the corner. "Hey, you. I want you to gather your level three friends and, uh, do some evil stuff. Yeah."

Adam raised an eyebrow, and then sighed. "Do as he says. Just don't push it, all right? We would like at least one of you to come back to report your findings."

The level three nodded and turned, barking out a few commands to the others in the corner of the room before leaping off and out of the bar.

Adam sighed again. "Some leader you are."

Brant laughed and reached for Adam's glass. "Yeah, yeah. 'S still great."

The other closed his eyes, and then reopened them. "Do you think we should clean up this mess?" He swept his hand across the room, revealing the bodies turned to ash and the blood splattered over the floor.

Brant laughed harder and downed the glass. "Nah. Later, maybe, we'll get a couple of level twos to clean it up."

Adam smiled. "Fine."

---

"Martha, darling!"

The girl dropped her basket on the ground at the voice, swiveling her head towards the direction it came from. "Yes, Mother?" she called back, silently wishing that she didn't have to call her. She really didn't feel like doing her chores today. Couldn't she ever get a break?

"Martha, darling, come back inside this minute. Your brother is in need of a changing."

Martha sighed and picked up her basket. "Fine, fine. Com—"

A shadow loomed up behind her and she turned, expecting to see a lost traveler of sorts. It happened often in this part of the region. "Well hi, are you los—"

She stopped, words stuck in her throat.

The monster in front of her grinned and put the gun to her head. "Hey, honey. Don't worry; I've found just what I wanted."

---

David swallowed the glass of water given to him and nodded in thanks to Lulu Bell, handing the empty glass back to her. "Thanks."

She nodded, and then gestured for him to stand up out of the chair. "Come on. You have to go talk to Lenalee. She was really worried about you, you know."

David groaned and flopped back into the chair, covering his eyes with one hand. "I know, I know. I just don't know what to say to her. I mean, I know I was really nasty to her and all. I don't know if she's even forgiven me yet."

Lulu Bell smiled. "I think she has. Still, you have yet to apologize to her."

David peered out from between his fingers at his cousin. His brows furrowed. "I thought I just had to talk to her."

"Oh, you do. But you also have to apologize for making her worry."

"But I'm not good at apologizing," he protested, looking rather nervous. "I don't know what to say to girls for apologies. The last time I said sorry to a girl, I had my toes stomped on. They swelled up for weeks."

Lulu Bell actually snorted. David stared in surprise. "Please. You're a man, are you not? It's a man's job to go and apologize to the woman he injured."

"I didn't injure her—"

"You injured her heart," Lulu Bell interjected. "You injured the heart that cares for you and your wellbeing, and you should go apologize to her. Now." She glared at him, and David cringed back reflexively.

David crossed his arms. "But what should I say?"

Lulu Bell sighed, obviously frustrated. "Just say that you're sorry, and that you won't say those things to her again."

He groaned. "But I don't know how to without her crying."

"Oh, for goodness sake, David! Just go and—"

There was suddenly a siren sounding throughout the chambers. The two Noah looked up, puzzled.

"Attention, attention please!" Komui's voice said over the intercom. "There has been a serious Akuma attack in the North region. I repeat, there has been an attack in the North region. All Exorcists and Noah must depart this instant for battle."

The two immediately got up and, in a flash, were out the door.

---

Lenalee pursed her lips as she sailed down the hill and towards the town. Already she could see the smoke rising in the distance in the North, could hear the screams rising and reverberating in her ears.

_Please let me make it on time_, she prayed. _Don't let all those innocent people die, please._

She felt her heart squeeze as she pushed forward, accelerating until she could hear the wind practically screaming in her ears.

_Please, please, please—_

"Lenalee!"

Her heart almost stopped before she turned around, heat already rising to her cheeks as she saw who was racing just behind her. "David! What are you—"

"I'm part of the same mission too!" he called out, breathing heavily as he started to lose the distance between them. "Come on, wait. I need to tell you something."

"Now's not the time, David."

"I know, I know! But just—just wait, okay?" His face more ashen then usual, he raced up beside her and caught her arm, tuning in to her speed as she continued to accelerate. "Wow! How fast are you going, anyways?"

"About seventy miles an hour," she said through her teeth, continuing to push with her heels. "It's not that fast, really. But now that you're here, what is it that you want to say to me?"

David took a deep breath. Lenalee could feel his anxiety and nervousness at this. "Look, I just wanted to say that—_holy shit, Lenalee, move!_"

Her brow furrowed just as a huge shadow loomed over them. "What are you—"

There was a sickening crunch, a yell (_David?_ She thought blearily), and then Lenalee's vision went black.

---

"Lenalee!" David screamed, grabbing her as she began to skid off to the side. "Lenalee, wake up! Wake up!"

She didn't move. Blood was oozing from the right side of her body from multiple cuts and bruises. Her face was growing paler by the minute, and her breathing became ragged and moist-sounding.

"Lenalee!" He screamed again, shaking her in an attempt to wake her. "Lenalee, please, wake up! Don't die, Lenalee, don't die!"

She coughed, and little flecks of blood landed on her chin, some dribbling down to the hollow in her throat. Her body began to shake and she kept right on coughing. All the while, David clutched her protectively as the Level Three Akuma advanced on the two of them. Its shadow loomed over them and it grinned sadistically. "Too bad, boy. I could've gotten the both of you if she hadn't been in the way."

David could barely hear it. He was breathing raggedly, trying to hold in the hysteria rising inside and the old memories coming back to haunt him.

_Ashen hand, lying on the pale white stairs of Noah's ark, a beautiful hand with chipped black nails—_

"No," he gasped out. "No, please—"

_Golden hair pooling across the floor—_

"Make it stop," he choked out, curling in on himself and Lenalee's broken form. His left arm was throbbing. _Why won't it stop throbbing?_ He thought dully. "God damn it, make it stop."

_Golden eyes, once bright with life now dull as the blood seeped into the beautiful hair and turned it red—_

"Don't worry boy," the Akuma said cheerily, raising its fist high above its head. "I'll make it stop."

And then he swung down.

---

David himself wasn't too sure what happened after that. All he was sure about was that no matter how hysterical and panicked he himself had been at that moment, his new matter sure hadn't been.

"What?" the Akuma said disbelievingly. "What is this?"

David felt his arm shaking under the weight of the Akuma's fist as he slowly came back to his senses. He looked up, stunned at what he saw.

His arm, the markings on it now positively gleaming and spinning around like whirlwinds, had turned into some sort of hardened material that gleamed silver-gray in the sunlight. It stood firmly against the Akuma's weight, shaking just slightly as the Akuma pulled back and leapt a further distance away, watching warily.

David pulled his arm down just slightly and gazed at it, still stunned, turning it over and over to get a better look at it.

"Is this really my arm?" he whispered, voice hoarse.

And then, just like that, a word floated in through his mind. He knew what it was.

"Salvatore," he said wonderingly, watching the arm gleam even brighter in response. "That's your name, isn't it? Savior."

Just like that, the arm shone to its brightest and, at the shoulder, began to spike up. It hardened there, forming a solid ridge around it and shining white in the sun. The material began to spread all across his body until it stopped just under his jaw, leaving the right half of his body and his face still made of flesh.

David chuckled a bit, feeling the hysteria wearing off a little more. "I guess I still can't fully synchronize with you, even after this."

The arm's light shone off and off, as if laughing with him.

He glanced back down at Lenalee and felt guilt and anguish settle down in his heart.

"I wanted to say that I was sorry," he whispered. "I wanted to say that I was sorry for saying those things to you and for making you worry so much. I wanted to say that, but I guess it may be too late now."

Having no choice, he set her down on the ground and stood up, facing the Akuma as he pulled out his gun with his right hand.

They looked dead on at each other for moments. As they did so, David felt his anguish being replaced by something else—hatred. Rage. Fury.

"All right, Akuma," he snarled, flipping the gun in midair before he grabbed the trigger. "You ready? 'Cause I am."

The Akuma laughed and opened its fingers wide. Inside, David could see tiny pieces of string hanging there before they started shooting out towards him, ends pointed and almost transparent in the sun. "Oh, I am ready, Sir Noah. I am far, far more than ready."

---

_Something isn't right._

_Lenalee opened her eyes and stared out at the darkness in front of her in wonderment and panic. "Where am I?" she called out. "Is anyone here?"_

_Her words echoed around, glimmering silver before vanishing into thin air._

"_Hello?" she hollered._

"_No need to shout," a voice said from behind her. Almost shrieking, Lenalee spun around to find no one there. "Oh, don't worry, I'm here," the voice said. It was soft, slightly jagged at the edges as if it were a picture, and slightly masculine. "I'm just choosing for you not to see me."_

"_Why?" Lenalee called out into the dark. "Why can I not see you? Do you have a grudge against me?" _You sound really familiar_, she added to herself privately._

_The voice was silent for a few moments before responding. "Something of that sort."_

_Lenalee felt her brows furrow in response. "What did I do to you?"_

_The voice didn't respond._

"_Sir, please answer me." Lenalee swiveled her head around and yet, she could not sense anyone there. "Sir!"_

"_You took someone away from me," the voice said suddenly._

_Lenalee was taken aback. "Oh." She remained silent for a few more moments before responding. "I'm sorry, but I don't remember killing anyone in my life before except Akuma."_

_The voice laughed this time; Lenalee cringed. It wasn't the happiest of sounds, nor was it the most pleasant. "It's not that kind of taking away, Exorcist. Think—what other ways can you take someone away from another?"_

_Lenalee put her hand to her chin. "Well, seperation is one thing."_

"_What kind of separation, Exorcist?"_

_Lenalee was puzzled. "Um…seperation of lovers? Family?"_

"_Close."_

_She was getting frustrated. "I took away your family member?"_

"_Guess who."_

_Lenalee finally lost her patience. "Just come out and confront me already. I don't like playing these guessing games, and I'd appreciate it if you could be courteous to me as I've been so far to you."_

_The voice was silent before it laughed again. Lenalee noticed a figure, shady at first, and then growing stronger as it condensed._

"_Amused?" she asked hostilely._

"_Very."_

_And then the figure stepped forward—_

---

"You can't run, Sir Noah!" the Akuma shrieked. Pieces of string flew everywhere, their tips burying into the ground while others shot through trees.

One sharp tip of a string barely missed David and he breathed out a sigh of relief. _My right side is still made of flesh and bone_, he thought miserable, _and so is my head. Why couldn't the material have spread all the way? I could have taken this thing down ages ago!_

Spinning out from behind the tree, he fired a series of shots—_ice bullets_, he thought to himself, smirking. _No way that thing can dodge this many of them at once._

Indeed, it didn't. One bullet shot right through the Akuma's chest and it screeched as its blood dripped out of the hole. "You bastard!" it howled. "You bastard, Noah!"

"Man, you still aren't dead?" David called out. "You guys sure are tough!"

He twisted his head to look down at Lenalee's body. He strained to hear for a breath and, to his relief, he did. He let out a sigh of happiness, though it wasn't that happy. _I need to finish this_, he thought desperately. _I need to finish this now._

_But you can't leave Lenalee here! The Akuma might try to take her hostage!_ His conscience shrieked.

_I'm not going to_, David responded, watching the Akuma carefully as it continued to pat its chest frantically_. But first I need to_—

Pain suddenly shot through several points in his right leg, and David suddenly felt himself drop to one knee. Several spots of blood began blooming on his thigh, and he winced, seeing the pale threads running through his leg. Man, these things are sharp.

"You can no longer stand, can you?" the Akuma yelled, laughing maniacally, lifting its hand from its bleeding chest. "My strings are accurate beyond measure! They pinpoint specific parts of a human's body and attack them, bringing them down far faster than a single blow could! While I might not be able to attack your left side, I can still bring you down by piercing your right! Now tell me, Sir Noah, how does it feel to be the one on your knees, hm? Tell me!"

David grinned. "I feel that you're the worst sucker in the universe." Cocking his gun towards the string, he yelled out, "Red bomb!"

The strings ignited and the fire, quick as ever, shot up towards the wide-eyed Akuma. "Wha—"

The flames soon reached it and instantly, it burst into flames, screaming and writhing on the ground. "You!" it shrieked. "You—you—you!"

Breathing shallowly as he broke off the burning string away from him, he pointed his gun at the Akuma. "Well, it's your fault for keeping your strings attached to your body. White bomb!"

In mid-scream, the Akuma vanished along with the flames, and David was left with an injured Lenalee and thigh.

The material on his body glowed, and then began to shrink, crawling back across his skin and into his arm, where it then turned back to a normal shade. "Decided you couldn't stay any longer?" David asked the arm. The arm glowed a bit before the glow vanished completely.

A sudden wave of exhaustion fell upon him and he fell down on his side, coming face to face with Lenalee.

His heart twisted when he saw how broken she looked. _Like a discarded doll_, he thought sadly.

"I need to get help," he whispered. The words came off his tongue clumsily. They felt like lead. "Someone…"

He pushed himself up as far as he could go, testing his leg before it collapsed under him again. "Hey!" he yelled out. "Cyril! Tyki! Lulu Bell! Road!"

Nothing.

"Exorcists!"

Silence. There was no sound except for the sound of leaves rustling in the wind.

"Anyone! Please! There are people injured here—" A wave of dizziness twisted his vision and he fell back down again, breathing raggedly. "Someone help her, God damn it!" he screamed, even when his vision kept twirling around and around in circles, bringing bile up to his throat. "Help her! Don't let her die!" His throat began to close up. "Someone," he whispered heavily.

And then everything went black.


	9. And so they reminisce

I apologize if this chapter has some errors in it. I can't be perfect, you know?

Well, anyways, here is the ninth chapter of Dancing in the Stars. I'm so proud!

Adam and Brant begin to prepare for their plan, we learn how Jasdero is still 'alive', and David and Krory come face to face--almost literally.

Oh, and the Noah kick butt. That too.

My profile is not working for the computer I normally use, so I apologize if you guys were getting way impatient with me for not updating it for more information. I have to use a different computer if I want to update it, so you'll have to bear with old dates and all that jazz. I hope it begins to work again.

Advise and enjoy! I hope.

* * *

The Akuma screeched as its body was slashed through by a white sword. As it dissolved into the air, it caught a glance of a boy with white hair before it vanished completely.

The nearby Noah smiled at the sight.

Tyki hummed to himself as the Teeze cut through the swarms of Akuma, and as the Akuma passed through him. Taking his lighter out of his back pocket, he struck a match and lit the cigarette dangling between his lips. "Almost done," he muttered to himself, feeling satisfaction in his bones. "Almost done, then we can go home and relax."

Behind him, Tyki could hear Road making her way through the Akuma, casting her dreams onto them until he could hear them breaking, inside and out. "Nice," he called out.

Road giggled. "Thanks." She hopped next to Tyki and grasped his arm. Immediately, the swarms of Akuma began to pass through her too—a neat little trick that Tyki had been carefully practicing since the crashing of Noah's Ark.

He took a last drag on his cigarette before asking, hoarsely, "Have you seen the twin cadaver anywhere?"

Road started. Then, she frowned, worried. "No, I haven't. Have you?"

"Nope. Hence, the question." He lifted the cigarette up again and breathed in the scent of ash and tobacco. "Do you think he got held up somewhere?"

Road, still frowning, sighed. "I suppose so. David does do that."

Tyki looked down at Road. It was at these times that he worried about her—sometimes, she seemed too sad and old for her body to take. "He'll be fine. Don't worry. Sooner or later, he'll show up looking all excited and bloodthirsty with his gun out and ready to go."

Road looked up and smiled before letting go of Tyki's arm. "I'm sure he will."

---

Krory was currently, not a very happy exorcist. He had already devoured several Akuma, and while it certainly stimulated and boosted his energy levels, he was still rather concerned over the tiny little incident from before:

The Noah.

As he tore his teeth into another Akuma's armor, he remembered the way the boy had looked as he had reached his black tipped fingers towards him. Murderous. Furious. Terrifying (to his weaker, more human, self). And—

Sad. The boy had looked sad.

Krory licked his lips as the Akuma vanished, pursing the bloody rims together. Perhaps later, he could attempt to go and try to make amends. He knew that even if he did this, the boy could never forgive him, but it would be at least an effort to become co-workers. If they were to live in the same building, then at least they could try to get along somewhat. At the very least, they could be cooperative allies.

Suddenly, he smelled the scent of fresh blood. Not Akuma blood either—human blood. Two of them, he thought to himself. Close, too. About where Lenalee was—

He stopped. His eyes rimmed with black widened before he began racing back up the hill.

Lenalee hadn't come down from the hill that day. She hadn't made it onto the battlefield, where Krory would have been able to see her. Maybe—

"If that is so," he said, gritting it out from between his teeth, "Then I will not let my friend die."

---

_Lenalee gasped. "You!"_

_The figure nodded, bowing mockingly towards her. "Me."_

_She opened her mouth several times, finding each time that she couldn't put together the words to describe how shocked she was. Finally, she managed a strangled whisper. "Why are you in my head?"_

_Jasdero smiled, the look playful and psychotic at the same time. Lenalee shivered. "Oh, it's not just your head I'm in, Exorcist. I can be anywhere I wish."_

_A sickening realization reached Lenalee as she recalled how trouble David had looked before. "Why are you doing this? How are you doing this?" she asked cautiously. "The dead can not come back to life unless cursed for eternity. That is the rule of this world."_

_He smiled condescendingly. Another chill ran up her spine. "That's because I'm not dead."_

_Lenalee felt confused._

_She must have looked confused as well because Jasdero held out his hand to her, still smiling that same cruel, twisted smile. "Come here. I'll explain to you how I am still here—and why you have taken my other half away from me."_

_She didn't take his hand, but she stepped up beside him and looked expectantly._

_His smile grew wider. "Don't trust me, do you?"_

_She narrowed her eyes. "Not one bit."_

_Jasdero's eyes darkened to black and gold. "What a wise choice_."

---

_The darkness isn't frightening. It's rather comforting actually, with little swirling patterns and the feeling of swimming in thick cream._

_Maybe, he thinks, drifting slowly through the pressing black, I can stay here for a long time. I wouldn't have to worry about getting back up. I wouldn't have to worry about getting hurt or being left behind anymore or leaving anyone else behind. I wouldn't, would I?_

_Comforted by this, he continues to drift on through the dark, swimming in the black cream._

_Suddenly, the darkness shifts, and the sensation of being lifted came to him._

_There is noise, and he listens carefully through heavily lidded eyes. A voice, a man's, drifts towards him in the darkness. It sounds familiar, not liked, however._

_The sudden rush of emotion hits him, and it takes him a few moments to define it as hatred._

_But why? He thinks, being lifted upwards. Why do I hate this voice so much?_

_He can just barely make out the voice now._

"_Hang on, brat," the voice growls, the sound echoing softly. "Don't die on your family just yet."_

_My family…?_

_A sudden flurry of memories pelt him. A girl with messy black hair, ash skin, and a mischievous smile, two older men with wavy coal hair and cunning smiles, a woman with a haughty, regal demeanor—_

_David._

_The voice is feminine, soft and firm, and he cannot define it as a family member's._

_David._

"_Who are you?" he whispers towards the sound. It is coming from the light, from where the other's had. "Why are you calling me?"_

_David._

_And suddenly, another series of memories slam into his brain, memories of a girl and short black hair, of flying boots and a kind, sweet smile._

_David._

"_Lenalee," he says, punctuating the darkness for the first time. It begins to whirl furiously, swirling up into the light. "Lenalee?"_

_David._

_He remembers broken bones and screaming and Lenalee lying in the dirt with blood coating her skin._

_His heart jolts._

_I can't leave Lenalee behind._

"_I'm coming, Lenalee," he says towards the light, beginning to rise again. "I'm coming_ _back."_

---

David awoke with a start. The person's shoulder was slightly broad, firm, and clothed entirely in black—or perhaps that was just his increasingly blurred vision. He could feel his arms wrapped around the person's neck, and he thought blearily for a few moments that that might be painful for that person.

Suddenly, he became aware that he could smell blood coming from the person.

Akuma blood.

His eyes shot open, and he jerked his head to the side to catch a glimpse of the person's face next to his. He blanched with horror at the familiar pale skin and the odd black and white hair that had haunted his nightmares so many times before.

"You," he whispered.

Krory turned his head towards David, breathing out a sigh. "About time you woke up, kid. I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to open your eyes."

David didn't answer, instead choosing to look at who was resting in the exorcist's arms.

His blood ran cold.

"Lenalee," he whispered.

She didn't move, the side of her body still caked with her own blood. She merely kept breathing raggedly, her chest barely fluttering with life.

David felt like crying. "Shit, Lenalee."

Krory frowned. "Clean out your mouth, brat. She'll be fine, don't worry."

David immediately found himself blanching with anger. "How the hell do you know if she'll be fine?" he shouted. The vampire-like exorcist winced as the sound directly entered his ears from the side. "You can kill people, but you can't tell if they're going to be all right or not!"

Krory glared at him with oddly colored eyes. "Be silent. She will make it. Lenalee is not the type of young lady to die when she is needed. Besides—" and here, the exorcist smiled slightly, and David was suddenly struck by how nice the man actually looked. "She has people waiting for her here."

At this, the vampire gave David a small smile, and David flushed with sudden realization. "You—you think—" he spluttered. "You think she's going to come back for me? Are you trying to kid me or something?"

Krory smirked. "I don't think so. I know so."

David's flush got deeper.

Krory frowned. "How much blood do you have in your body if all of that goes to your face?"

David blanched.

---

Brant stood in the doorway of the mansion's hall, sighing in boredom outside of the changing room. "You done yet, Adam?" he called out from behind him. "It doesn't really take that much time to dress in a suit, you know."

"For a slob, maybe," his partner's cool reply was.

Brant groaned, knowing that his partner was implying towards him. "Oh, come on. I don't look as bad as you think I do, just because I only took five minutes to change."

The door creaked open slightly, and Adam's doe-like brown eye peered at him from the crack. "Well, you look like you," he said, smiling slightly as he quickly shut the door again.

Brant smirked. "Why, thank you—" he suddenly stopped, realizing the real meaning. "Hey, wait a minute! That was an insult, wasn't it?"

"Oh, maybe," Adam replied loftily. The sound of rustling clothing was heard. "Anyways, I have to look very proper for this, Brant. It wouldn't be easy to get many people to trust you if you don't look right for the part."

"Adam, you look like a girl. You've never looked right for any part—ow!" Brant rubbed his head from the swift punch through the newest crack in the door. "Hey, man, that really did hurt!"

"Serves you right for insulting me." Adam sighed. "Can you tell if the invasion is over yet?"

Brant looked out of the window. He smirked. Smoke was rising from nearby buildings, screams echoing across the streets as people ran out of the burning buildings before blood splattered out of their bodies from the bullets lodging themselves in their bodies. Fire leapt up from a barn on the far side of the small town, Akuma swarming around it and laughing insanely as well as swarming around everywhere else. The massacre was huge.

"No. Want me to call them off?"

Adam was silent before replying. "How loud are the screams?"

Brant's smirk turned into a full-fledged grin. "Musically loud."

Brant could almost hear the soft, yet sadistic smile unfurling on Adam's lips on the other side of the door. "Then let them continue for a longer while."

Brant's eyes darkened as his grin turned positively murderous. "Excellent."

---

_She watched the series of images fly by her, her mouth parted slightly in awe at the vivid colors and shapes forming in the little snapshots. Her hair fluttered slightly at the speed, and, instinctively, she reached up to brush it behind her ear._

_The boy beside her merely watched the images as well, his hair billowing behind him. His face was expressionless._

_Lenalee made a note that these images were most likely very, very important if he was making an effort in not showing what he was thinking._

_Some of the images became sharper, and Lenalee glanced at them, only to reel back in shock._

_Jasdero's arm pressed against her back. "You aren't going anywhere. Watch."_

_She swallowed._

_The image in front of her was of Jasdero screaming and writhing as hands (so many hands) covered in crimson blood reached for him and began pulling him into a pair of huge black doors. A gate, she realized suddenly, horrified. It's a gate!_

_Jasdero was screaming and pulling away from the hands. She could hear his screams, and they made her want to break down into tears right there and then._

"_I can't leave yet! I can't die yet!" he was screaming. "David! I can't leave David behind yet! Please! Please, damn it, please!"_

_The figure before the gate was unmoved, merely examining the back of his hand._

"_Please!" Jasdero was now crying, tears running quickly down his face in crystalline rivers. "Please! David! Don't make me leave David behind yet! I don't want him to die because I was weak! Please—"_

_Suddenly, the hands began to lessen. The figure looked up, surprised._

_Another pair of ashen hands reached down from above and grasped Jasdero's arms and pulled him up to the surface. He was sobbing freely now, smiling gratefully._

"_Thank you," he sobbed. "Thank you, thank—"_

_Then he froze, his face twisting in horror._

_Lenalee stared as well, transfixed. It was like seeing a child's dead body—it was certainly terrible, but it was just so terrible that you just couldn't look away from the horrible sight._

_The face was Jasdero's, leering horridly with sunken eyes and a smile that didn't reach its cold demeanor. "You wished for us to live," it rasped out. "And live we will—in the spirit's world."_

_His eyes were wide, and he began to scream again._

_The face laughed, arms still pulling him up. Lenalee saw David's back above the two of them, limply lying on a table and breathing harshly. His arm was throbbing white with the Innocence, and his face was twisted in a horrible expression of pain. Her own heart throbbed and twisted at this helpless display._

"_Come now," the face laughed. "Let us go to the world between life and death."_

_And then the image ended._

"_In the spirit world," the real Jasdero said next to her, "I learned that the Earl had tried to revive me, but had only partially succeeded. Thus, I was forever trapped between the land of the living and the gates of death until David himself died or was destroyed." He smiled bitterly. "Obviously, neither happened."_

_Lenalee, still horrified by what she had just witnessed, burst out, "But that doesn't explain how I somehow 'took David' from you."_

_His smile turned even bitterer. "Up until the time you met David, he had never forgotten me, not for a moment. Therefore, I was still a healthy, happy and nourished soul, even half dead. I had not been forgotten—that was such a great relief. But when you came along—" His face twisted into a hard expression. "He began to forget. He was happier than he had been in ages, and all thoughts of me began to vanish from his mind. I began to fade—not completely, since he was not dead. But I began to become lost. I forgot my name. I forgot my memories. I almost forgot—" His voice turned very small, and he looked away. "I almost forgot David himself."_

_Lenalee felt a wave of sadness come upon her as he began to shake. "That's why I had to keep reminding him that I was still here—that I was not just something he could forget, or throw away. I was someone who kept him here! I was someone who—who—" His voice became choked. "I was someone who kept him alive and happy, back when I was still human."_

_She reached out for him, and he flinched. She touched him anyways on the shoulder, gently. "David never forgot you, Jasdero."_

_He turned back to her, his eyes wild and filled with rage. "How would you know that?" He screamed. "How would you know that, when he's never really told you how he feels? How would you know if he even cared that I had existed?"_

_Lenalee looked at Jasdero with a heavy sadness in her heart. "I know because he still doesn't feel whole. He's mentioned that he's 'half of a person', that he can't just let your 'killer' go free." She looked at him intensely, but she wasn't really seeing him. She saw David, looking away in pain and old memories. "Don't you see? David can't forget you. He never can."_

_He stared at her, uncertain, before shaking her off and screaming, "Shut up! You're a liar! A liar!"_

"_Jasdero—"_

_His image began to dissolve, and the black began to lift. She could begin to feel an overwhelming pain on her side, and she doubled over, even as the ground below her began to crumble._

"_Liar!" he screamed. "Liar!"_

_She began to fall._

"_Liar!"_

---

Suddenly, Lenalee groaned and shifted, some of the dried blood cracking off of her skin and falling to the ground in tiny little pieces.

David looked at her sharply, breathing harshly from the shock of the movement. "Lenalee!"

"Girl," Krory said anxiously. "How do you feel?"

Her eyes fluttered open. "Krory? David—" Suddenly, she curled into herself, coughing. "What happened?" she asked between coughs. "We were running—no, I was running, and you caught up to me. Then—" She coughed harder, blood coming out of her mouth and landing in her hands. David felt his heart stutter and jump at the sight of the fresh blood. "What happened to my body?"

Krory covered her mouth. "Enough. You're injured enough as it is, and if you continue to talk, you will hurt yourself even more."

She fell silent, but her eyes lifted up to meet David's.

A jolt went straight through his heart, and he had to look away. He didn't want to see her like this because he knew it was his fault. If he hadn't distracted her, she would have been fine now. She wouldn't be like this, helpless and bleeding on the outside and inside.

She would be safe, like Jasdero would have been if David had just been more careful.

"Where are we going?" he asked, just to break the awkward silence.

"Back to the Order. We can't have you two out on the battlefield like this," Krory explained shortly. "You would be a hindrance, and you would definitely be killed off almost immediately."

David frowned before falling silent again and turning to face the speeding trees. The green flashed past his golden eyes in a huge blur, the green melding with the blue in the sky overhead. That image, mixed with the strange warmth coming from Krory's shoulder, was oddly comforting—even if the warmth belonged to Jasdero's 'killer'.

He heard the sound of fighting below and screaming as well, but he didn't turn to look just yet. Frankly, he was just a bit tired of seeing people fight.

David closed his eyes, and let the sound of wind rushing past put him to sleep.

---

Lulu Bell spun around and slammed her foot into the Akuma's chest. It snapped and shattered, the microscopic pieces floating into the air and vanishing.

"The last one is dead," she said quietly, wiping off some of the blood from her cheek. "Cyril."

He appeared almost instantly by her side. "Good," he sighed, exhausted as his hands dripped Akuma and human blood all over the floor. "Now we can go home, right?"

"Yes." Yet, she frowned, but tried to distract herself from the nagging unease at the back of her mind. "Why is there human blood on your hands?"

He shrugged. "The Akuma were coated in it. It's only natural that I pick it up."

"I see." Finally, she could take it no longer, and as they were walking back, she blurted out, "Cyril, I have the feeling that someone is watching us."

He looked at her, startled. "You too?"

Lulu Bell arched an elegant eyebrow. "You actually noticed, Cyril?"

Cyril pouted, insulted. "I'm not that unobservant, Lulu Bell. Yes, I have noticed. And what's odd about it is that it seems to be coming from the house we used to live in over there." He pointed up, and Lulu Bell looked in the direction his finger was towards the old house.

She frowned. "Do you think someone could have broken in?"

"Quite possibly. In these times, I wouldn't underestimate anyone." His eyes darkened, and he continued to stare at the huge glass window in the middle of the house's wall. "Or anything, for that matter."

Lulu Bell felt goose bumps rising on her arms, partially from the shock, and partially from the realization that Cyril could actually be serious at times. It was quite the surprise. "Do you think—"

"—that an Akuma could have broken in? Yes. It's quite likely."

"But why?"

Cyril was silent before responding. He sounded quite troubled as he tore his eyes away from the window. "That is the question that I have no answer for."

Lulu Bell was left behind as she stared up at the dark, enormous window. Her brow furrowed.

_What are the Akuma planning?_


	10. INTERLUDE NUMBER ONE

This chapter is abnormally short because I don't see the point making extremely long chapters for people that never bother to review for them. Seriously, guys. Have a heart? Like any other person, I like reviews for stuff that I tried my hardest and took a lot of my time for.

(Plus, I didn't have much time for this, so deal. Be happy that I decided to update this)

Now, in this tiny chapter, we see plans starting to wheel into motion, and I introduce a new original character (though his name is yet to be revealed).

Enjoy, and please review, advise, etc.

* * *

The square is empty. Smoke runs across the sky above it, flame and heat running through the buildings around the square. Buildings lie on their sides, toppled downwards and some crushed with massive bullets. Ashes are scattered everywhere, leaving poison in the smoke.

However, slowly, people begin to gather around the square.

The crowd looks up from the square as the two men step up on the balcony. Whispers erupt immediately, spreading as if contagious.

The younger looking man, the brown-haired one, raises a hand. The whispers stop abruptly, and the crowd falls silent as the young man steps up to the ledge. The black-haired one stays back, hands in his pockets.

The young man spreads his hands and calls out, "The despair that has happened today can never be repaired. The sins that have been committed here will never be forgiven." He looks around through the crowd. Women, children, and even the most muscular men are crying or shaking—from sorrow, from anger, or from the deepest of emotions, he cannot tell.

"But, citizens who have feared, do not do so any longer. From now on, I will lead you on with new strength."

A new bout of whispers ensued in the crowd before a brave young man steps forward. He only seems about fourteen years old, slight and nimble, with fingers long and elegant. His face, while slightly beautiful from traits inherited from his now deceased mother, is pale and streaked with ash.

He balls his bloody fists and calls up at the man in the balcony. "But, sir, how do we know if we can trust you to be our leader? And do you know what happened to Mr. Camelot? What of his family?"

The man nods. "I indeed know what happened to the Camelot's."

"Then what?" the younger yells up at him.

"What? What?" the crowd yells up at the man as well, their voices melding together.

He closes his eyes before opening them, their depths filled with grief and anger. "They ran from this town with the knowledge that this would happen. They cared only of the fact that they needed to save their own skins."

The young man is startled before hollering up, "That's a lie! They wouldn't do that! The Camelot's are—"

"How can you prove that it isn't a lie?" the man above calls out. "How can you prove what I have just said is not true?"

The young man below falls silent, stricken.

The brown-haired man shakes his head before continuing. "I know that you can trust me. I know who our enemies are—that should be enough."

The crowd gasps and begins to scramble among themselves, new whispers floating up and through the chaos.

"Who are they?" a woman yells out, her face wretched with grief. "I'll kill them all! They took my son from me! My daughter too!"

"My wife!" a man hollers. "My brother!"

The man raises his hands, and the crowd falls silent, expectant. "I need you to trust me first before I tell you."

"Why?" a boy calls out. "We just want revenge. You're nothing to us."

"Because I can lead you to them. Show them where they are. Formulate an unstoppable plan to destroy these enemies one by one."

The crowd roars, approving. Through their grief, they are blinded. They will trust this strange man and his companion, if only for a while, as long as they let them bring their precious one's killers to justice.

Only the young man is still skeptical, but he is wise enough not to voice his doubts.

The man smiles beautifully. "So, do you trust me?"

"Yes!" the crowd roars. "Yes! Bring our revenge to them!"

As they roar, only the young man sees the men's eyes turn black and their smiles stretch—

_(just like demons)_


	11. And so they forgive

Hello, everyone. Have you missed me?

Okay, don't answer that question.

Anyways, I bring you the real Chapter 10 of Dancing in the Stars (or part eleven--whatever you prefer). Another character (not an OC--read the latest chapters of DGM to know who I'm talking about) is brought into the story. Hooray!

Anyways, I'm still on the trip, so I'll be pretty slow in updates. Be patient please!

Enjoy!

* * *

"Lenalee!" Komui wailed, tears running down his face. "How could have you gotten so hurt? How? How?"

Lenalee sighed, feeling exasperated. Her brother had been here for two hours, crying nonstop about her injuries. All she wanted to do was sleep, but instead, Komui decided to wail in her ear. She had a right mind to actually hit her brother.

"The Akuma took me by surprise, brother," she explained patiently. Again. "It was my fault."

"But—but—" Komui blubbered; he was gripping the bed with such force Lenalee thought she heard something rip. "But your head—your side—"

"Will be fine in due time, Supervisor," the head nurse said, almost growling in impatience. "Now if you would please leave. I am sure that Lenalee would like to go to sleep."

Lenalee smiled hopefully at her brother, trying to convey the message of 'I'm really tired and I just want to sleep, not listen to you.'

Komui received the message.

He nodded and wiped the snot from his nose as he stood up bravely. "All right. I will be back later." Then he left the room with his back erect and shoulders squared.

However, as soon as he left, Lenalee could hear him wailing "Why? Why?" down the hallway as he stampeded back to his office in despair. She sighed again, unconcerned, and covered herself with the blankets. Finally, sleep.

"Thank you, head nurse," she said softly, smiling at the older woman kindly. "I thought he'd never leave."

The head nurse nodded and let out a gust of wind from her chest. "Neither did I. Now get some rest, you hear? I'm going to check on the young Noah boy."

When she left, Lenalee stared at the ceiling and remained silent, immersed in her thoughts.

_You still haven't told him_, an annoying part of her reminded herself. _About Jasdero and the dream._

_I'll get to it_, she told herself back guiltily. _I just don't know how to say it._

_Just tell it like it is._

_Oh, yeah. I'll just walk up to David and say, 'hey David, while you were fighting that Akuma, I had a dream that I was with your half-dead brother who likes to watch you while you sleep and wants you to abandon me so that he can actually keep alive'. I'm sure he'll take that wonderfully._

_Well—maybe that's not a good idea._

_You think?_

She squeezed her eyes shut, letting little blue and red stars pop up in the darkness to keep from thinking about the dream.

_And when are you going to tell him about the other thing?_ It was the annoying little voice again.

_What other thing?_

_You know. That you like him. David._

Her eyes shot open so fast the light blinded her eyes completely. "What?" she exclaimed out loud to the ceiling. "I don't—I mean, I like him, but—"

_No buts!_ The voice sounded reproachful. _You know you like him. Otherwise, why else would you be so concerned about him being tested on?_

"Because he's my friend and I care about him! But he's—I mean, he's sweet sometimes, but other times, he can be such an idiot! And other times, he's not really considerate, and he's—he's such a boy!"

_But you like him_, the voice sang.

Lenalee felt her face flush, and she buried her face in her pillow. "Oh, shut up," she mumbled.

_Lenalee and David, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S—_

"Be quiet! I'm eighteen, not five! Goodness!"

The voice fell silent.

---

"Oh, David!"

"Get off of me, Cyril! What the hell's wrong with you?" David yelled, trying to push his 'father' off of him unsuccessfully. He felt his lungs begin to give out under the tight embrace. He choked, his face turning blue. "I can't breathe," he gasped out, clawing at Cyril's arms. Who knew the man was so strong?

"But—I didn't know you had been so hurt!" the tall, lanky man wailed, squeezing harder. "What kind of father am I? I can't even keep track of my children! I feel so ashamed!"

"Obviously not a good one," David wheezed, feebly pawing at Cyril's arms in an attempt to escape. "And you're not my dad," he managed to squeeze out.

"I know I'm not a good father!" Cyril wailed, choosing to ignore that last statement made. "That's why you got so hurt! Oh, my dear boy, I'm so sorry—"

"Papa, he can't breathe," Road piped up from behind, peeling open a lollipop and beginning to chew on it. "You're choking him."

"Oh my!" Cyril let go so fast that for a minute David thought that his lungs had exploded with the amount of air that they had suddenly taken in.

David panted a few moments before speaking again. "I'm fine, damn it," he growled, swatting at Cyril a bit to convey the message that he wanted to be left alone. "Go away," he added, just in case.

"But what if you need something?"

"That's what I'm here for," the head nurse spoke, appearing in the doorway so fast that none of the three Noah had seen her appear. They all jumped in surprise, eyeing her warily. "Now sir, I'm afraid your time here is up. You may visit him again tomorrow."

Cyril looked at the nurse with eyes filled with despair. "But—"

Road sighed. "Come on, Papa, let's go." She grabbed Cyril by the arm and began pulling him out the door even as her 'father' wailed all the way out.

The head nurse rubbed her temples as she put a tray down on the table next to David. "Interesting family you've got there, young man."

He sighed. "Yeah, well, you don't get to pick family, no matter how much you want to."

The nurse laughed before beginning to stride for the door. "We all want to once in a while. I'll be back later to check on you again."

David nodded.

After she was gone, he slipped out of bed and walked to the door. Glancing to the left and to the right, he slipped out into the hallway and whisked down through the white halls.

He grinned mischievously.

Like hell he was going to stay in that room for the rest of the day.

---

Tokusa honestly didn't remember how he had been stationed here at the Order's new headquarters. Oh, he knew _why_—it had something to do with the Noah and the Akuma, but he didn't understand why he was the one to be placed here. It was so noisy here—too noisy, almost.

He frowned slightly. Madarao would have been better at this than himself. Tokusa had never liked things to be too noisy. Well, Madarao didn't either, but he was better at handling people in general. Tokusa wasn't.

Sighing, he paced down the hall aimlessly. He didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, anyways—was he supposed to be outside, guarding the place? No, that was the gatekeeper's job.

Shit. He couldn't remember.

All of a sudden, something a little bit shorter than him rammed into his side. Tokusa, caught off guard, went down with the figure. Hard.

"Goodness," he muttered, sitting up and rubbing his now throbbing head. "What on earth—"

He stopped short and stared.

A young man a few years younger than him, possibly eighteen or nineteen, dressed in nothing but a pair of baggy black pants and bandages now sat up next to him. "Damn!" the young man cursed, shaking his full head of black hair in an attempt to shake off his new headache. "Why does this keep happening to me?"

Tokusa…wasn't quite sure what to do. Maybe he should take this person back to where he was supposed to be (wherever that was). Or he could just let the person go where he wanted to go.

He chose to go with the second. It was better to make a good relationship with people, he figured. He would think about the consequences later (even if they were painful. Tokusa shuddered slightly).

"Excuse me," he said politely. The young man looked up in surprise. Tokusa noticed that he had very nice eyes. "Where are you going?"

The young man blinked a few times. Then his eyes widened and he scrambled backwards. "Holy—wow, hey, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you, but it's just that I need to go see this person that I really, really need to say sorry to, and I'm not really supposed to because technically I shouldn't be moving around—"

"All right, all right, I understand," Tokusa interrupted. Wow, this person could ramble. "Just go before you get caught."

He stood up. The young man stood up too. He looked at Tokusa in surprise. "You're not going to turn me in?"

Tokusa's lips twitched. "No. I'm not."

The young man's eyes brightened. "Wow, thanks!" He raced by Tokusa so quickly that Tokusa almost staggered back a few steps. The young man waved over his shoulder. "I owe you, lady!"

As Tokusa stared at the young man running down the hall, he felt his brain processing what was just said.

"Lady?"

---

Lenalee had been sleeping, and having a nice dream at that. She had been a field filled with flowers, and a voice had told her she could pick however many she wanted to. Happily, she had been picking flowers and making flower wreaths when the sound of something opening made her pause and frown.

What was there to open in a field?

Lenalee opened her eyes and turned her head to the sound of the noise.

Her eyes, half-closed before, now shot wide open in a panic. "David?" she exclaimed, shooting straight up and scrambling back on the bed. "Wh—what are you doing here?" _And without your shirt on_, she added in her head.

David put his back to the door and pressed his ear to it nervously. Lenalee watched, stupefied.

After a few moments, he relaxed and walked to the side of her bed, sitting down in the chair still next to it. "Hey, Lenalee. Sorry to wake you up."

"I—it's all right," she said. "Just—what are you doing here?"

Suddenly embarrassed, he looked away. "Well, you probably don't want to hear what I have to say anyways, so, uh, maybe I should go away now."

Lenalee cocked her head to the side. "What? It's okay, tell me."

"No, never mind. I think I should just go."

"David. Just tell me."

There was silence before he turned to look back at her again. Lenalee merely waited patiently.

David brushed his hair out of his eyes and breathed in a few times. "I'm here to—to say I'm sorry," he mumbled. Lenalee blinked in surprise. "I wanted to tell you before and I tried too, but that's what ended you up in here."

Seemingly anxious, he looked away again. "So…yeah. Sorry for making you worry and everything."

Lenalee blinked, bemused, her mind processing what David had just said.

_He's really sweet sometimes_, she remembered herself saying before.

Her face turned crimson. She turned away herself, trying to get a hold over herself.

"Lenalee?"

She turned back. David had managed to look back at her, looking nervous. "Yes?"

"So, uh, do you…?" He fumbled a little bit, looking embarrassed and nervous. "Do you forgive me?"

She stared at him before smiling slightly. _He really is sweet_, she thought to herself. "Yes," she said softly, reaching out and placing her hand on his. "Thank you. I forgive you."

David looked so relieved that Lenalee couldn't help but smile broader. "Okay."

_Tell him_, the annoying little voice nagged at her. _Tell him about the dream!_

_Later_, she told it. _Not now. Now's not the time._

The voice fell silent for the second time that day, and everything felt right.

---

_Crack._

Adam glanced up from his book and looked at the little glass sitting on the coaster next to him. He frowned, closing the book with a snap.

The cup had a huge crack splitting down the middle. Pieces chipped off of the sides, clinking down onto the table. They lay there, slightly scattered across the edge of the table.

Adam stared at the glass a few moments. It merely sat there, the crack noticeably ominous and warning.

Irritation rising in his chest, he narrowed his eyes and picked up the glass. Turning on his heel, he hurled it at the wall. It shattered on contact, sprinkling across the floor.

Adam looked at the pieces and shards on the floor. His lip curled in contempt.

"I don't believe in omens."


	12. And so they tell

Hello all~

In this chapter: The revealing about Adam and Brant's past and how they became Akuma! A appearance by Tyki (finally - I don't think he's shown up in a while)! More Tokusa! And finally:

A kiss.

No, not the happy couple's. I'M GETTING TO THAT, OKAY? :(

But it's a funny kiss? I hope? Though not from the most popular pairing (I think I'm the only person who supports it, ha ha).

NO FLAMES ABOUT CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS/ETC. here. GO EXPRESS YOUR ANGER ELSEWHERE.

* * *

The first thing that the Level Two noticed when walking into the room was that it was incredibly dark, aside from the fire burning in the corner. It glanced around nervously, twiddling its fingers behind its back. It bit its lip.

"Lord Adam? Are you here? Sir Brant wished for me to bring you back to the balcony. He says that he needs to speak with you. Lord Adam?"

There was no reply, only a deadly silence that seemed to reverberate around the room like an echo.

The Level Two was seriously getting scared, which happened very rarely, proceeding to frighten him even further to the point of hyperventilation. When there was no answer, it slowly began to back out of the room. Screw this. If Sir Brant was angry, then that was his problem. Not Level Two's.

"I am here," the soft voice of Adam called out.

Oh. Well, that was sort of embarrassing.

"Are you coming, Lord?"

There was another silence. The fire crackled in the corner, little red flames licking the air. Now that the Level Two knew that Lord Adam was there, it scanned the room again. Sure enough, there was a shadow darker than the others standing near the window, but it was standing far enough so that the light did not catch its form. No wonder that the Level Two had not seen him beforehand.

"Lord Adam—"

"Come here, Level Two." The quiet voice of the higher leveled Akuma drowned out what the Level Two was about to say next. Obediently, it came closer to where Adam was and stood by him uncertainly. Through the darkness, it could make out the cropped dark brown hair falling forward around the superior's face, hiding whatever emotion Adam might have been feeling at the moment.

"I have not felt like myself lately," Adam said suddenly. He sounded ancient, and the Level Two felt his unease deepen. "I have even been questioning myself if this revolution is worth it. Is it? Freedom from the Earl, from mankind and all of its cruelties—is it worth it?"

"Lord Adam, Sir Brant is waiting—"

Adam held up his hand. The Level Two stopped immediately in the middle of what it was saying.

"Shall I tell you a story, Level Two?"

Level Two felt shaken and kept silent to not convey his uneasiness. To him, Lord Adam did not sound like he was in his right mind at the moment. He sounded almost…human.

Adam took the silence as a cue to keep going. In a voice flat without emotion, he began to speak.

"Once in a small lonely village a very, very long time ago, there lived four children. Human children who, of course, were too innocent for their own good. But they were happy…"

Adam's voice trailed off there for a few moments before continuing.

"These four children were extremely close, almost siblings. They had joined together after rogue gangs passing through had slaughtered their parents. Drawn to each other, they kept close to one another and put all of their will into surviving. It was an odd friendship, but they were happy." Level Two could hear Lord Adam's hands digging into his false flesh.

"As they grew older, they grew closer and closer until they were bound by soul. They did not want to lose any of them, no matter what.

"But then that happened."

Adam was silent then. The Level Two, now enthralled, spoke up timidly.

"What happened, Lord?"

Adam chuckled bitterly. "A very foolish, inhumane thing.

"Two of the children, though they were not children any longer, had gone out to find more food. The other two had stayed behind to try to fix their shelter, as it was coming apart from wear and tear damage.

"The two who had gone out were searching for food when there were human shouts from the outside of the forest they were lurking in. They had stopped, confused. There had been no sign of other human life besides them in this area for years. Who had come here? Fools that they were, they did not bother to hide.

"And from the forest burst out a group of people, screaming and raving and absolutely mad with bloodlust and alcohol. It was another rogue gang who had wandered to the area after a kill, and they were absolutely delighted to find two people here in this area supposedly abandoned by the rest of humanity.

"The elder of the two tried to protect the other from harm, but he was hurled into a tree headfirst. His skull broke and he was impaled on a particularly sharp branch. He died instantly.

"After seeing this, the members then turned and violated the second child. Finally, after leaving the child sobbing in humiliation and pain from their torment, they stabbed the shell through the heart before scurrying off to find the place from which the two had come from.

"The gang ran through the village, trying to find more people to kill, but the two remaining hid from them in a hiding place devised years ago. Frightened, they watched as the rogues tore down everything that they had worked for before, hooting with laughter, left the place in remains. It was only until they could not hear anything anymore that they came out from their hiding place and began to search for their comrades.

"The remaining two soon discovered that the other two were dead after searching the forest frantically. Naturally, they fell into despair. Their only comrades, killed? Inconceivable.

"And it was only natural that they would want them back."

The Level Two felt like it had just been doused in cold water. It kept silent as Adam kept going.

"And of course the Earl came after hearing their cries of despair. The two, of course, accepted his terms without knowing they would become masks for the most terrible machines on this world.

"And then, of _course_, they were turned into Akuma."

Adam lifted his head, and Level Two saw that he was smiling a terribly bitter smile.

"Brant may have forgotten, but I never will forget the cruelty of man."

Then abruptly, he straightened, his face smoothing over into a mask of calm and collectiveness. "Well, we might as well go to him now. Brant is such an impatient fool."

And then he swept out of the room, leaving the stunned Level Two standing in the darkness.

---

"Too slow."

David panted as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Lenalee stood sweetly to the side of him, watching and commenting occasionally as he continued to punch fervently at the swinging bag in front of him.

"David, I know that you're faster than that. Come on, move your legs," she teased lightly.

"It's kind of hard to," he protested, but he sped up anyways, slamming the bag harder and harder until, when coming back, it almost slammed him up the jaw. Luckily, he dodged it just in time. "Shit—"

Lenalee giggled. "You big baby."

David flushed, his lower lip jutting out a little. "Shut up."

Tyki, who was lying in the doorway, watched absently as his nephew continued to beat the bag. "You're really a wimp, aren't you, David?"

David promptly grabbed the bag and twisted his head so that he was glaring daggers at his uncle. "Oh shut up, you useless vagabond! And what the hell are you doing here, anyways?"

"Watching you make a fool out of yourself," Tyki responded immediately, yawning loudly and rubbing his eyes. "And because Cyril forced me to come here. He wants me keeping an eye on you before he came here himself."

David sneered at the elder Noah. "Can't even refuse big brother, huh?"

Tyki raised an eyebrow at David. "Really? Have you never been scared of my brother before?"

David stopped to think about this for a minute.

And then he shuddered so violently that the bag he was holding shook along with him.

Tyki glared. "Yeah."

Lenalee, who had been watching them interact with curiosity, laughed slightly. "Cyril isn't really that bad, is he?"

Tyki and David both turned to stare at the girl in collective horror. She leaned backwards slightly, eyes widening. "All right then. I stand corrected."

David gulped. "You haven't seen him at his worst, Lenalee. Then you'll be really scared."

"So far, I'm already a bit afraid."

"What are you two doing out of bed?"

Lenalee and David collectively gulped and turned to face the nurse standing ominously behind Tyki (who also looked slightly petrified at the sheer power of this woman). They all swore later that they could see flames behind her. Dark. Black. Flames.

_She's scarier than any demon_, David and Lenalee thought at the same time as the flames loomed higher.

---

Tokusa honestly didn't know how he kept bumping into such strange people lately. Staring at the babbling man in front of him, he patted the man's shoulder comfortingly, although slightly awkwardly.

"It's all right," he consoled, even though he had no idea what the man was saying. "Calm down."

"But I can't find them!" the man cried. He looked almost ready to burst into tears, with black hair trailing along his face.

"Can't find who?" _This guy's off his rocker_, Tokusa thought to himself.

"My darling brother and son! I can't find them anywhere! And I told them I'd meet them, too!"

"Well, where do you think they are?"

"I don't know!"

Oh, lord. Tokusa resisted the urge to clobber this man over the head and leave him dying in a pool of blood. "Well, why'd you tell them that you'd meet them if you didn't even know where they were going to be?"

"Because I thought that David was still going to be in his room! But he wasn't!"

"David?"

"My son!"

Oh. Okay. That didn't help one bit.

"Well, why don't you go back to his room and wait for him there?"

The man stopped. He stared at Tokusa.

Tokusa felt a few drops of sweat run down the back of his neck.

"That's…" the man's eyes welled up in emotion. Tokusa leaned back and flailed as the man scooped him up in his arms and whirled him in a circle. "You are a genius, my good man, a genius! Thank you so much!"

And then—and Tokusa could not believe that it really happened—

The man kissed him. Right. On. The. Lips.

Oh. Dearest. God.

"I owe you!" the man chirped before setting a dazed Tokusa back on the ground and racing back down the opposite way of the corridor.

Tokusa just blinked.

"He…" he stuttered. "He just…"

The man had just kissed him.

Oh _God_.

Tokusa promptly turned on his heel and began running down the other way to barricade himself somewhere safe. He couldn't be too careful. There was a pervert on the loose, after all.

He _really_ hated this place.

---

"I'm here. What is it?"

Brant glanced up. Adam blinked at the look on his comrade's face. Brant's green eyes were wide open, his lips pressed together in a thin line. His skin was paler than usual, but that was probably because it was so dark outside.

"Brant?"

"I had a bad dream, Adam."

Adam raised an eyebrow elegantly. "I did not realize that you could sleep."

"Yeah, well, I tried. It isn't fun." Brant sucked in a breath heavily, pulling back his hair with one hand. Dark strands contrasted with white skin, and Adam glanced away.

"I dreamed of trees."

Adam froze.

"I think I was in a forest. There was another kid with me. We were looking for berries or some shit like that."

His muscles were tensing up, trembling.

"Then I felt something hit my skull and tear open my stomach, and—" Brant sucked in a breath. "Adam, I think I died in that dream."

Adam couldn't look at him. He just remained staring off to the side blankly; he felt his mind processing what was being said, but his mouth not saying what he wanted to say. Little pieces of memory flashed by his eyes, hands on skin and screaming and pounding and laughter, cruel laughter of humanity—

"Adam?"

Adam parted his lips.

"That's all? You called me out here for a nightmare? Honestly, Brant, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were becoming human."

Brant didn't flinch, but his eyes narrowed down into slits. "Do you know anything about that dream, Adam? Was that dream reality? Is that why you've stuck by me for so long, ever since we were Level Ones? Adam, was that kid in my dream you?"

Adam didn't answer.

Brant strode over to him so fast that Adam barely saw him move. Towering over him, Brant growled, "Adam. Answer me."

Adam looked up at him coolly and smiled condescendingly, the mask fitting easily on his skin. "It's a foolish thing, to be manipulated by a silly dream, Brant. Do not let your emotions get ahead of you." Turning on his heel, he exited from the room and began to stride back down the corridor.

"Victory is the only thing that matters here," Adam said over his shoulder at the still Brant outlined by darkness. "Remember that, Brant. We have no time to stop for dreams."

_Even though they are so close to reality that it hurts_, he added to himself.


	13. INTERLUDE NUMBER TWO

Okay, so I'm trying to move the story forward. I'm sorry if this doesn't meet expectations, but hey, it is an interlude. :)

Also, there's a poll in my profile that I would appreciate if the watchers of this story would take. It's for the ending of the story, and I will love you forever if you help me. You don't have to, of course, but it's something that would be nice to have.

Thank you!

(oh, and people, please review? I didn't receive any reviews for the last chapter and while I understand that it's moving slowly, I would like it if you could help me out)

* * *

"A host, you say?"

Bond nods quietly. "Yes."

He lifts himself off of the ground and rubs his shoulder. In the darkness, he and Bond are the only ones visible and conscious. Still, he can hear the rustling of spirits in the background, the quiet crying that always reaches his ears. Someone is always crying here. "Are you sure?"

The Noah shrugs. "It's risky, but it's also worth a try. The human you attempt to possess could die if they are too weak to contain your spirit."

He frowns. "I was cursed to remain here until he died, Bond. The person might reject me any way."

Bond smiles. "If you truly want to protect him and if you truly don't want him to forget you, you have to try to find out."

He says nothing.

Bond raises an eyebrow. "You don't sound that pleased."

"Well, I would have appreciated it if you had told me this two years ago."

"You weren't strong enough then."

"Oh, so I'm strong now?" He laughs. "I think not."

"I don't think so either." The Noah looks at him through thick black lashes. "But the time is approaching. You have to make your move."

He sighs. "I know.

"So will you try?"

He pauses.

And then he smiles. "All right, then."

---

"So that's how it is, huh?" The boy looks right at him with empty, cold eyes. "I can't say that I like it."

He doesn't smile, folding his legs casually and wrapping his arms around his knees. This is the fifth one he has tried since Bond told him of the host tactic. He is seriously beginning to doubt if the Noah has a brain at all. "If you will cooperate with me, just say so. I don't have that much time."

The boy is silent, picking at his torn, ashy clothing. Inside the dream, he watches a woman's arm being struck by an Akuma's bullet. She screams in pain, the stars spreading through her body as she crumbles to dust.

"My mother," the boy says quietly.

"Hm?"

"That was my mother."

"Ah."

They sit in silence for a bit.

Then, the boy speaks again.

"Will you die for him?"

He looks up from where he had been watching the chaos. "Yes."

"Even if it means that he will die too?"

He closes his eyes. "Yes."

"Why?"

He reopens his eyes and looks straight at the boy. The boy's hair is long and pale, melting in with his pale skin. His fingers are cupping his face, long, elegant things that are smeared in ash.

He is not beautiful.

But he might as well be.

Just like _him_.

"Because we are one," he says quietly, "and it is our fate to die for each other."

The boy looks down at the shifting, wobbling ground. He is going to wake up soon. He doesn't have much time.

"Well?"

"…I don't like you, or your tactics. But I don't like them either." The boy gestures to the floating Akuma in the background. "So I'll go with you."

He smiles and holds his hand out. "Good."

The boy takes his hand.

---

"Levi!" a man calls from above him. "Levi, get up! We have to get moving if we want to get the Order and beat those Camelots down." The man waits before reaching down and shaking him. "Do you want to avenge your mother or not, kid?"

He opens his eyes and stares up at the scruffy face above him. He reaches up and pats the man's face. "You're real," he whispers in a voice that is not his own.

The man raises an eyebrow. "You feeling all right? Better not be sick, kid. We don't have time to take care of you now."

He sits up slowly, squints at the bright light shining down on the people surrounding him and moving. "The sun."

"Levi? Hey, we have to get moving."

"It's so bright."

"Yeah, no shit. Come on, don't be stupid. Get the hell up!" The man grabs his arm and pulls him to his feet. Wobbling for a few moments, he dusts off his clothes and looks at the man calmly.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," the man grumbles before stalking ahead. "God damn kids…"

He stands still for a few moments before looking down at his new body. "It worked," he mumbles in awe. "It really worked."

"Come on, kid!" the man calls from up ahead. "We don't got all day!"

There is a pause.

And then Jasdero looks up with eyes made of silver steel.

"I'm coming."

He begins to move.


End file.
